Mary Bird Perkins – LSU Medical Physics Program Gets PhD Accreditation

Program Nationally-Recognized

  (Baton Rouge, La.) The Mary Bird Perkins – LSU Medical Physics Program is one of 35 in the United States accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs, Inc., or CAMPEP. The nationally-recognized program – the only one in Louisiana – is now also one of only 27 in the group to offer a Ph.D. In addition, this successful public-private partnership that has advanced the fight against cancer through research and education received renewal of its Master of Science accreditation for the next five years. “To have achieved inaugural accreditation of our Doctor of Philosophy program is thrilling. It would have been an impossible feat without the sustained hard work and high performance of the entire medical physics team,” said Wayne D. Newhauser, Ph.D., Director and Dr. Charles M. Smith Chair of Medical Physics.  Newhauser succeeded Dr. Kenneth R. Hogstrom who retired in 2011 after leading the program for seven years. The academic medical physics program is an applied physics offering within the LSU College of Science. The partnership leverages Mary Bird Perkins’ clinical team with facilities, treatment planning and dosimetry laboratories, and commitment to patients as well as LSU’s expertise in imaging and medical physics within LSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. This combination of resources improves patient care, provides a rich arena for medical research and provides much needed manpower in this highly-specialized field for Louisiana and the nation. Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a regional cancer care organization that has been fighting cancer for more than 40 years. With five centers in Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond, Houma and Gonzales, its service area encompasses 18 parishes across southeast Louisiana. Through a series of innovative partnerships, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is succeeding in its mission “to improve survivorship and lessen the burden of cancer through expert treatment, compassionate care, early detection, research and education.”   LSU is Louisiana’s Flagship University. Designated as a land, sea and space grant institution, it is noted for its extensive research facilities, operating some 800 sponsored research projects funded by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, among others.