Radiation Oncology Education

The Department of Radiation Oncology offers multiple training opportunities for health professionals, including:

• Radiation Oncology Residency is a four-year accredited program that trains physicians to be outstanding radiation oncologists and provides graduates with a solid foundation in translational and clinical research, while preparing them for careers in academic radiation oncology.
• School of Radiation Therapy is an accredited 12-month certificate program to train health professionals in the technical skills necessary to plan, deliver and record a prescribed course of radiation, as well as monitoring and caring for patients throughout treatment. After completing this program, graduates become registered radiation therapists upon passing a national certification exam.
• Radiation Oncology Physics Residency is a two-year training program for individuals with an MS or PhD degree in physics, medical physics or a closely related field.

The City of Hope^® Radiation Oncology Physics residency program is a two-year training program for individuals with an M.S. or Ph.D. degree in physics, medical physics or a closely related field.

Physics residents participate fully in our clinical routine under the supervision of the program director and program faculty. The program provides comprehensive clinical education in areas of external beam treatment planning and delivery, radiation machine commissioning, calibration and routine quality assurance, brachytherapy, shielding and radiation safety, imaging and informatics, dosimeters and detectors, and special procedures such as stereotactic radiosurgery (Linac based SRS), stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), TomoTherapy, adaptive radiotherapy (MRIdian, Ethos), biological-guided radiotherapy (Reflexion) and motion management. The program is designed in accordance with American Association of Physics in Medicine Report no. 249. The structured education and training prepares our residents for certification by the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic Medical Physics and for future professional careers as medical physicists.

As specified by CAMPEP, residents entering a medical physics residency educational program shall have a strong foundation in basic physics. This shall be demonstrated either by an undergraduate or graduate degree in physics, or by a degree in an engineering discipline or another of the physical sciences and with coursework that is the equivalent of a minor in physics (i.e., one that includes at least three upper-level undergraduate physics courses that would be required for a physics major).

In addition, residents must either

• Have graduated from a CAMPEP-accredited MS or PhD graduate program, or
• Possess a PhD in physics or related discipline and have completed a CAMPEP-accredited certificate program, or
• Possess a PhD in physics or related discipline and have satisfactorily completed courses equivalent to those in a CAMPEP-accredited certificate program, as determined by the CAMPEP Graduate Education Program Review Committee (GEPRC).

Our program participates in the Medical Physics Residency Matching Program (MedPhys Match) and applicants should apply through the NMS Match System. Once the application deadline has passed, an admission committee will review and rank applicants. Select candidates will be invited for a virtual interview. Once all interviews are completed, a final rank list will be created and submitted by the program to the MedPhys Match.

Applications must be sent by December 31st. The start date is July 1st the following year. 

Applicants may view our physics residency handbook.

Kun Qing, Ph.D., Program Director of the Physics Residency Program
Sam Hendley, Ph.D., Associate Program Director of the Physics Residency Program
Bo Liu, Ph.D.
Borna Maraghechi, Ph.D., City of Hope Irvine
Chengyu Shi, Ph.D., FAAPM, City of Hope Irvine
Chunhui Han, Ph.D.
Jiahua Zhu, Ph.D.
Sara Lim, Ph.D.
Tyler Watkins, Ph.D.
Yelin Suh, Ph.D.
Yi Lao, Ph.D.

The medical physics residency program at City of Hope aims to instill clinical excellence in our residents while preparing them to be leaders at the forefront of groundbreaking radiation oncology innovations. As one of the top-ranking cancer centers and one of only 53 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S., City of Hope offers residents the opportunity to learn from a large variety of treatment modalities.

At our primary Duarte site, we offer the following technology:

Treatment machines:

• RefleXion PET-linac
• Varian Ethos system
• Varian TrueBeam STx linac with HD120 MLC
• Varian TrueBeam linac with Millenium 120 MLC
• Two Helical Tomotherapy units
• Elekta Flexitron high dose rate brachytherapy afterloader

Imaging systems:

• GE 3T MRI simulator
• GE Big Bore CT simulator
• GE PET/CT simulator 

Software

• Aria Oncology Information System
• Eclipse treatment planning system
• Oncentra brachytherapy treatment planning system

Special Procedures

• SRS/SBRT
• TBI/TMLI
• TSET
• HDR brachytherapy
• LDR I-125 prostate brachytherapy
• Y-90 liver radioembolization
• Adaptive therapy with Varian Ethos system
• Biological-guided radiation therapy with RefleXion system

Located south of our primary Duarte location is our Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center, offering MRI adaptive radiotherapy with a ViewRay MRIdian linac. Residents have the opportunity to visit this site to deepen their understanding of MRI-guided radiotherapy. 

Additional information regarding our residency program can be found in our physics residency handbook.

Contact

Lizette Adame
[email protected]