Physics Residency – Resources
The faculty of the UC Davis Radiation Oncology Physics Residency Program represents the foundation and strength of our program.
All of our faculty have appointments at UC Davis and provide clinical support to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Radiation Oncology clinics. The faculty comprises a broad range of expertise within radiation oncology physics and has broad teaching expertise and access to a wealth of clinical physics equipment and training resources.
The faculty and staff interact regularly through:
- clinical physics operation meetings
- seminars
- case conferences
- departmental faculty meetings
- hospital or medical school committee meetings
- Physics Residency Committee meetings
- annual retreats of the Department’s faculty
The faculty and physics resident interact regularly through:
- clinical physics rotations
- didactic lectures
- seminars/conferences
- monthly physics resident meeting with the Program Director, Associate Director, and Chief Dosimetrist
- personal appointments with any faculty to discuss clinical rotation, and/or personal problems
- departmental social activities
In addition to the scheduled meetings, the physics residents also are informed that they have access to the Physics Residency Program Director to discuss any sensitive personal or training problems.
For an estimated program capacity of 4 residents and 6 Radiation Oncology Physics faculty, our resident to faculty ratio is 1: 1.5.
The Radiation Oncology Department is located in the NCI-designated UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and is actively engaged in delivering state-of-the-art radiation therapy. The department has full-member status with the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and has an ACGME accredited physician residency training program. There are research affiliations with the UC Davis School of Veterinarian Medicine and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Treatment equipment includes:
- 2 matched Electra Synergy Linacs with Agility collimator
- Tomotherapy HDA
- Elekta Gamma Knife Perfexion
- Varian GammaMedplus HDR
- Nucletron 3D ultrasound-guided prostate seed implantation system
- Align RT
- Calypso
Simulation and treatment planning systems include a Philips large bore 4D CT-simulator, Philips Pinnacle workstations, Varian Eclipse Brachyvision workstations, TomoPlan, Nucletron SPOTPRO, and GammaPlan.
The department’s information management system is IMPAC MOSAIQ with a Radiation Oncology PACS built around the TeraMedica Evercore software system.
A full range of radiation measurement equipment and specialized phantoms are available. A partial list if provided below.
- ADCL-calibrated Farmer type ion chamber & Keithley 614 electrometer dosimetry system
- Multiple PTW Famer type ion chambers-electrometer dosimetry systems
- PTW Parallel-plate ion chamber (Model N23343)
- HDR 1000 Plus Well Chamber (Standard Imaging)
- Welhofer Blue Phantom water phantom scanning system
- TLD dosimetry system (Thermo Fisher Model 3500)
- MOSFET – Thomson Nielsen TN RD 16
- Diode dosimetry systems
- RITT film dosimetry system
- Radiochromic film dosimetry system
- Multi-diode Array System (Sun Nuclear MapCheck2 and ArcCHECK)
- Multiple radiation survey meters
- Multiple Aneroid barometers and numerous thermometers
- Rando anthropomorphic phantom (The Phantom Company)
- RPHAT anthropomorphic phantom
- Multiple water, solid water, polystyrene phantoms of varying sizes
- Catphan Model 600 (The Phantom Laboratory)
- QUASAR™ Multi-Purpose Body phantom (Modus Medical Devices)
- QUASAR™ Respiratory Motion phantom (Modus Medical Devices)
- QUASAR™ r Penta-Guide phantom (Modus Medical Devices)
- QUASAR™ MLC Beam Geometry phantom (Modus Medical Devices)
- Lucy® 3D QA Phantom (Standard Imaging)
Procedures are in place that (1) allow the physics resident reasonable access time to the clinical equipment, (2) provide physics residents sufficient training and technical support to ensure safe and proper use of equipment, and (3) ensure equipment is left in the proper state for clinical use.
Resident Offices, Classrooms, and Conference Rooms
The Physics Residency Program provides an office cubicle space for each physics and physician resident in the program. All residents are provided a computer connected to our LAN, telephone access, and standard office supplies. Residents have access to department photocopiers. The Physics residents are also given a library account for electronic access to journals and journal searches.
Ample space is available for resident advisory meetings, didactic lectures, exams, seminars, and oral examinations. The department conference room is typically used for these functions and is equipped with a whiteboard, overhead video projectors, and computer or computer connections for PowerPoint presentations. Additional conference rooms are available in the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center if needed.
Physics Resident Funding
Physics resident positions are funded by the UC Davis Medical Center. Current funding levels are as follows:
- Physics Resident Year 1: PGY 2
- Physics Resident Year 2: PGY 3