In low- and middle-income countries there are often too few radiotherapy medical physicists available for cancer care services, and there are even fewer who are qualified to supervise training programmes of new medical physicists and advance research in this field. A series of IAEA doctoral coordinated research projects (CRPs) sets out to address this.
Medical physicists play a key role in cancer treatment. These health professionals calculate exact radiation doses and devise, with doctors, treatment plans to use these doses to target cancer cells with minimal damage to healthy tissue. Their role in supporting quality healthcare is increasingly recognized by the health community, as is the need to ensure sustainable educational programmes for the training of competent medical physicists.
While a PhD is not necessary for high quality radiotherapy medical physics services in a clinic, a PhD holder has the added academic recognition and expertise necessary to supervise and pursue research.
An IAEA doctoral CRP provides a collaborative research platform for PhD students and experts from all over the globe. There are five teams, each made up of one PhD student and their local supervisor from a developing country, along with a remote expert supervisor. The student registers at his or her local university, which awards the PhD. The current doctoral CRP involves Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Israel, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Viet Nam.
“The remote mentor provides guidance to ensure the high quality and scientific relevance of the research project,” explained Debbie van der Merwe, Head of the Dosimetry and Medical Radiation Physics Section at the IAEA. “This is particularly important when local research expertise in medical physics is not available.”
