COURSES

M.Sc. program
For the M.Sc. trainees, the MPRTN does not institute courses beyond the normal, already heavily loaded CAMPEP M.Sc. 28-credit program. For more information on the M.Sc. course program, see http://www.mcgill.ca/medphys, or http://physmed.fsg.ulaval.ca, for McGill or U Laval, respectively. Applicants with science M.Sc. degrees from related fields of study (physics, physics-related), who have not fulfilled the course content part of the CAMPEP M.Sc. program, need to fulfill a make-up curriculum equivalent to the course component of the CAMPEP M.Sc. program (See “Fast Track Med Phys Course Program” in the diagram above). Course credits can be exchanged between McGill and Laval U. through the website of CREPUQ (Conférence des Recteurs et des Principaux des Universités du Québec).

Ph.D. program
At the Ph.D. level, the MPRTN is in the process of instituting additional intensive courses to broaden and strengthen trainees’ background. Prerequisite for the courses is the curriculum of the CAMPEP M.Sc. program.

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A brief description of the courses is as follows:

Topics in Radiation Oncology Physics Research:
Seminar course consisting of new and upcoming topics of research & development in Rad. Oncology Physics. Because of progress, the subjects of these topics are established each course year and evolve from year to year. The student submits a 10-page review-type paper. [MDPH 702]

Practical Clinical Medical Physics:
Many research topics arise from clinical issues that require a fundamental approach; hence an on-the-ground understanding of workflow and typical clinical problems are essential. To provide the trainee with the empirical basis for this, the MPRTN program is in the process of instituting a 3-month mandatory clinical physics rotation as a practical course (MDPH 703 at McGill and Laval). This course is to make trainees more familiar with issues in the clinic for the purpose of their research. It does not replace formal clinical training as offered in a full medical physics residency program. This course must be taken at the beginning of the Ph.D. or PDF program. [MDPH 703]

Computational Methods in Therapy & Imaging Medical Physics:
Core course that focuses on advanced computational techniques in radiation therapy, fundamental radiation physics and imaging aided by computational techniques. This course also involves exposure to data structures & algorithms, numerical techniques, deterministic and stochastic simulation methods [MDPH 704].

Bio and Nano Technology in Medical Physics:
The aim is to address the different biotechnology techniques including nanotechnology and microfluidics used in molecular and radiation biology research to quantify gene/protein expression, genetic variations, cell culture, and experimental animal models. The importance of this new course is to give background to enable productive research dialogue between medical physicists and basic and translational researchers [MDPH 705]

Mandatory 600 level physics course:
This core course belongs to the mandatory course package of the medical physics Ph.D. programs at McGill and Laval. Typically, instrumentation or detector physics courses are a very important complement to Ph.D. education. [PHYS 600 level course]

Postdoctoral Fellowship program
There are no formal courses for the MPRTN PDF program. However, PDFs will have every opportunity to complement their research training with components from the MPRTN program. This includes (1) access to all Workshops and Events (see section 5); (2) access to M.Sc. level courses for post docs with basic training outside medical physics wanting make a transfer into clinical medical physics (this is usually achieved by registration into the “CAMPEP Certificate Program”); (3) participate in teaching of expert topics within the CAMPEP M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs and in courses listed in Table above. The PDFs will be expected to enhance mentorship skills by teaching and acting as role models to undergraduates, M.Sc. and Ph.Ds.