General Requirements

The training of a medical physicist must be broad. To participate fruitfully in this interdisciplinary profession, he or she must be thoroughly competent in physical and mathematical science, must understand biological and physiological systems, and must be able to understand and speak the language of physicians. The Department of Radiology and the Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology together offer two programs to provide aspiring medical physicists with the knowledge that they will need in their future profession. One program leads to the Master of Science degree with emphasis on either research or the clinical support role, while the other leads to the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

The University of Chicago academic year consists of four quarters. A full-time graduate program includes three courses each quarter. Graduate students in medical physics normally begin the program in the Fall Quarter and are in residence throughout the academic year. Applications for part-time enrollment and/or entry in the Winter, Spring, or Summer Quarter will be considered on an individual basis.

Students working toward a graduate degree in medical physics normally will be expected to have completed training equivalent to that required for the S.B. (Bachelor's) degree in Physics at this University prior to admission. In addition, after enrolling in the program, the following requirements must be met by candidates for either degree.

The University of Chicago also offers opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in physics or astronomy & astrophysics.

Basic Required Courses

Most students meet these requirements by following the suggested basic course sequence during their first two years in the program.

Official course descriptions can be found in the Medical Physics portion of the University's online course catalog.

Course Name	Course Number
Mathematics for Medical Physicists	MPHY 34900
Interactions of Ionizing Radiation with Matter	MPHY 35000
The Physics of Radiation Therapy	MPHY 35100
Practicum in the Physics of Radiation Therapy	MPHY 34400
The Physics of Medical Imaging I	MPHY 38600
Practicum in the Physics of Medical Imaging I	MPHY 34200
The Physics of Medical Imaging II	MPHY 38700
Practicum in the Physics of Medical Imaging II	MPHY 34300
Anatomical Structure of the Body (or equivalent course)	MPHY 35600
Cancer & Radiation Biology (or equivalent course) *	MPHY 35900
Statistics in the Natural Sciences (or another appropriate course in statistics)	STAT 24000
* Students will be required to have a college-level biology course as a prerequisite for MPHY 35900. If the student enters the program without such a course, he or she will be able to take the course at the University; however, this college-level biology course will not count towards degree requirements.

Qualifying Comprehensive Examination

At the end of the first academic year, the student will take a written and oral Qualifying Comprehensive Examination covering the material of the courses studied up to that time in addition to basic undergraduate physics. The student should demonstrate both competency in medical physics and the ability to think through a posed situation.