Physics Residency Program: Resources

Faculty and Staff

The faculty of the Radiation Oncology Physics Residency Program represents the foundation and strength of our Program. All of our faculty have appointments at Washington University and provide clinical support to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital radiation oncology clinic. The faculty has a broad teaching expertise and access to a wealth of clinical physics equipment and training resources.

The faculty and staff interact regularly through (1) physics faculty meetings, (2) seminars, (3) case conferences, (4) quarterly departmental faculty meetings, (5) hospital or medical school committee meetings, (6) Physics Residency Committee meetings, and (7) annual retreats of the Department’s faculty.

The faculty‑resident interactions occur at (1) clinical physics rotations, (2) classroom environment, (3) seminars, (4) private appointments to discuss the designated comprehensions, clinical rotation, or personal problems, and (5) social activities (Division parties, etc.). In addition to the routine meetings, the residents also have access to the Program Director and Division Director to discuss sensitive personal or training problems. We feel there is relatively open communications between residents, faculty, Program Director, and the Division Director.

For an estimated Program capacity of 6 residents and a planned 12 radiation oncology physics faculty, our resident to faculty ratio is approximately 1:2.

Table 4: List of Key Faculty

The faculty-resident interactions occur at (1) clinical physics rotations, (2) classroom environment, (3) seminars, (4) private appointments to discuss clinical rotation or personal problems, and (5) social activities (Physics Division parties, etc.). The residents also have access to the Program Director and Division Director to discuss sensitive personal or training problems. We feel there is relatively open communications between residents, faculty, Program Director, and the Division Director.

Financial

The typical financial burdens of a physics resident based on actual data provided by the residents are as follows:

Resident Funding

Effective July 1, 2008, the following funding levels are in effect for physics residents:

•  1st year Physics Resident:         $45,000

•  2nd year Physics Resident:        $46,350

In addition to direct compensation, physics residents are afforded benefits consistent with other hospital employees including medical and dental insurance, paid vacation and holiday benefits (3 weeks), 5 paid meeting and/or interview days in their second year, sick pay benefits, and disability insurance.  The expense of these benefits varies and is shared between the physics resident and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
  
The residents are funded up to $1,200 so each attends a national meeting in their second year.  The AAPM also provides $1,000 per year for our accredited program.  At the beginning of the second year, the resident receives a book allowance of $500 to be spent within 90 days.

Resident Offices, Classrooms, and Conference Rooms

The Physics Residency Program provides office space for each resident in the program. The Resident Office, for medical and physics residents, is currently located in Siteman Cancer Center’s Radiation Oncology Department.  The room is allocated for the capacity for 4 physics residents.  Residents are provided a cubicle including a desk, file cabinet and bookcase, computer terminal connected to LAN, telephone access, and standard office supplies. Residents have access to departmental copying equipment. The Physics residents are also provided with a library account for electronic access to journals and journal searches (Medline, OVID).

Ample space is available for resident advisory meetings, didactic lectures, exams, seminars, and oral examinations. Three meeting rooms/classrooms are in the department.  They each contain whiteboards, LCD video projectors, and computer or computer connections for LCD projection.  Additional conference rooms are available in the SCC if needed.

Clinical Facilities, Laboratories, and Shops

The residents have access to a myriad of laboratory and shop facilities including: (1) a dosimetry instrumentation lab in the physics research area; (2) a brachytherapy lab in the Brachytherapy Suite; and (3) other research labs and offices in the Clinical Science Research Building.  Residents submit work orders to a campus machine shop as required.  In all, the availability of dosimetry and clinical treatment areas and equipment is more than adequate to serve the needs of the residency training program.  Procedures are in place that (1) allow the resident reasonable access time to clinical equipment, (2) provide residents sufficient training and technical support to ensure safe and proper use of equipment, and (3) to ensure equipment is left in the proper state for clinical use.

Treatment planning and external beam delivery equipment utilized in the training program include 4 Varian (incl. 2 Trilogy units), 2 Elekta Precise accelerators, 2 Tomotherapy planning and delivery Units, a Gamma Knife planning and delivery system, a therapeutic x-ray unit, 2 Philips Brilliance CT-simulators (16-slice-large and 64-slice-small “bore”), a 1.5T MRI simulator, 26 Pinnacle TP workstations, Varian Eclipse/Helios workstations, and a conventional x-ray simulator. In late 2009, we take delivery of the world’s 1st compact, single room proton machine.  Specialized equipment and features include the DMLC-IMRT delivery, Helical Tomotherapy Planning, linac and Gamma Knife stereotactic radio-surgery/therapy, and image guidance provided by on-board x-ray imaging, portal photon imaging, video surface imaging, internal transponders, and kV-CT systems.  Clinical rotations are also provided within our HDR, LDR, prostate seed, and radiopharmaceutical program, including image guided interstitial, intracavitary and surface implant planning and delivery.

Table 5: Clinical and Dosimetry Resources

External Beam Treatment Machines:

• 2 Varian Trilogy IGRT Linear Accelerator (including kv imager and portal imager)
• 2 Helical Tomotherapy
• 2 Varian Clinac 21EX Linear Accelerator (DMLC - IMRT)
• 2 Elekta Multimodality High Energy Linear Accelerators (MLCs, EPID)
• 1 Elekta Gamma Knife Unit – Perfexion
• 1 Philips RT-50 Endocavitary X-ray Unit

Simulators:

• 1 Varian CX simulator
• 1 Philips ACQSIM CT Simulator (Large-bore, 16 slice)
• 1 Philips Brilliance CT Simulator (64 slice)

Treatment Planning Systems:

• Philips Pinnacle Treatment Planning Workstation (14)
• Varian HDR Treatment Planning Workstation
• Varian Eclipse (Helios IMRT) Workstation (4)
• Variseed Transperineal Ultrasound-guided Implant Treatment Planning System
• Varian Fastplan Stereotactic Radiosurgery Treatment Planning System
• Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery Treatment Planning System
• Varian Proton Planning Workstation

Brachytherapy:

• Varisource/HDR Remote Afterloading Machine
• Ultrasound guided interstitial  implant (I-125 or Pd-103) system
• Traditional intracavitary (Cs-137) and interstitial (Ir-192) brachytherapy sources
• Eye Plaques
• Radiopharmaceuticals (i.e., monoclonal antibody agents, and SirSpheres)

Dosimetry Resources:

• NIST-calibrated ion chamber and electrometer dosimetry system
• Farmer type ion chamber and Kiethley 602 electrometer dosimetry systems
• Parallel-plate ion chamber
• TLD dosimetry facility - Harshaw 2000 A-B
• Radiochromic film dosimetry system-Molecular Dynamics 2D laser densitometer
• Si diode dosimetry systems
• Welhoffer water phantom scanning systems
• Victoreen Double Check Pro Systems
• Mercury barometer
• Multiple Aneroid barometers and numerous thermometers
• Multiple anthropomorphic phantoms
• Multiple water and polystyreen phantoms of varying sizes
• Solid-water, lung, and bone phantoms
• Multiple radiation survey meters
• RITT film dosimetry system
• Multi-diode System (map check)

Special Procedures:

• IMRT
  • Helical Tomotherapy
  • Pinncale MLC based IMRT
  • Helios based MLC IMRT
• Total Body Irradiation
• Cranial Stereotactic Radiosurgery
• Extra-cranial Linac Radiosurgery
• Extensive Pediatric Service
• Sealed Source Brachytherapy
  • Prostate Seed Implant
  • HDR for GYN, Thorax, Breast
  • LDR for GYN, Colorectal
• Radiotherapy Cervical Therapy
  • P-32 for cystic lesions
  • I-131 for carcinoma
  • Y-90 with Monoclonal Antibodies
  • Sm-153 for metastatic disease

Libraries

The major libraries available to students are the Washington University Medical School Library and the Washington University Main Campus Library. Students also have access to the Division of Radiation Physics’ Library in Meeting Room #2 in the Department which maintains bound volumes of Medical Physics, Physics in Medicine and Biology, and International Journal Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics.  Medline accounts are available for the residents for manuscript keyword/author searches.