Better Access to Radiation Oncology (BARO) Tasmanian Undergraduate Physicist Scholarships at Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH)
Although cancer is a disease that can afflict a person of any age, the prevalence is skewed to later age groups. As Australia's population both grows and shifts demographically, greater cancer treatment services will be required, including in Tasmania. A Medical Physicist specialises in the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Another way of looking at it is the medical physicist forms a bridge between fast evolving medical technology (and its use of physics principles) to more "mainstream" clinical professions. Medical Physicists are thus fulfilling a key role in the expansion and ongoing delivery of such services across the nation, and within the state, however recruitment to the profession lags the current and future projected needs. In order to promote interest in the field, the Federal Government through the BARO grants scheme is awarding a number of scholarships to Tasmanian undergraduate physics students to enable them to study and gain insight into this highly challenging and rewarding field.
Schematic of a Varian 18MV linear accelerator
Four "summer" student scholarships of $5 000, two Honours scholarships of $10 000, and one Masters scholarship of $30 000 p.a. x 2 years are available. Flexibility exists with the summer scholarships if the student wishes to participate at other times of the year, as does the possibility of using the Masters scholarship to part fund a Ph.D. if the student wishes. Research topics are flexible within the field of Radiation Oncology Physics, however it is hoped that participants will focus on mutually beneficial projects to help RHH further harness the dramatic advances that have occurred over the past decade in linear accelerator technology and computer optimisation of treatment. This will help RHH to expand on our current service provision, bring Tasmania recent advancements in therapy and imaging technologies (sometimes combined!), and to use these technologies to implement world leading cancer treatment techniques.
Axial and Sagittal Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of the human brain with sub-mm accuracy. Stereotactic Radiosurgery beam dose distributions superimposed
For more information, contact:
Steven Wallace, Ph.D., ARECQA, DABR, CMD
Chief Physicist
WP Holman Clinic (Radiation Oncology)
Royal Hobart Hospital
GPO Box 1061
Hobart Tas 7001
Ph 6222 8232