Work
My first job anniversary has recently passed as a Principal Physicist at St Luke's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. I was taken on as part of the national program which is massively expanding the capacity to treat oncology patients with radiotherapy. Although my pre-PhD experience gave me a good overall understanding of the clinical requirements of radiotherapy physics, pursuing a PhD at Monash improved my understanding of all facets of radiotherapy.
My day-to-day work is a combination of immediate clinical support - answering queries regarding specific patient related issues, often for patients undergoing treatment, QA of existing linear accelerators, planning systems and imaging units, teaching and research. I am involved with teaching the Trinity College MSc in medical physics, the Radiation Oncology Registrars for their specialist exams and ongoing supervision of the physics trainees in the national program. The research program at St Luke's includes 3 PhD students working in Monte-Carlo modeling of very small megavoltage treatment fields, EPID dosimetry with a Flattening Filter Free beam and improving the accuracy of radiation biology. A number of the clinical staff in the hospital participate in these programs and all the projects are in collaboration with local universities.
In addition to the daily clinical support I have been reviewing the contracts and requirements from a physics perspective for the on-going expansion of radiotherapy services in Ireland. This type of work covers the fascinating exploration of emerging technologies, their potential and the infrastructure required to support them, (coupled with a smidgen of crystal ball gazing), along with the odd interminable meeting.
|
