FRS 002H — Sec. 001 — (2 unit) — CRN 76168 — F 12:10-2:00pm — 25 Wellman
Introduction to Hospital and Medical Physics

Instructor: Julian Perks, Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine

Description: This course expands the previous years 1 unit freshman seminar “Introduction to Hospital Physics”, which gave students an introduction to the aspects of patient care not directly related to the biological or chemical sciences. Feedback from that course showed a strong preference towards radiation oncology and cancer care in general, thus these aspects have been increased. Physics plays a number of roles in medical practice both in diagnosis and treatment. The course is aimed at any student interested in a career in medicine or any allied field and will highlight job opportunities in hospitals for those who do not go on to complete medical degrees as well as those who choose a more traditional medical education. There are no prerequisite study areas for the course but a knowledge of/interest in the sciences would be preferable. The course will cover areas of diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and radiation protection. The diagnostic radiology section will cover a wide variety of imaging techniques, from simple X-rays to magnetic resonance. This leads through to nuclear medicine where radioactive tracers are imaged to give physiological as well as anatomical information. The use of radiation in patient treatment is then introduced and the vast area of radiation oncology will be covered. The lecture portion of the course will end with a discussion of radiation safety, with particular emphasis on radiation in the environment. Environmental radiation is an area of particular concern these days due to heightened awareness of national security, this will be covered as well as historical radiation incidents and the role of natural background radiation.

Format: Weekly seminars will be given, with an emphasis on group discussion. Some background reading will be required to aid discussion of certain topics, this reading will be specified at the previous weeks class. Guest lecturers with specialty knowledge of radiation oncology and radiobiology will present seminars in the latter half of the course. Grading: Grading is based on both participation in class (30%) and two essays – one set half way through the course (2000 words -- 30%) and a final essay (3000 words -- 40%).

About the Instructor: Dr Perks is a member of the faculty of the Radiation Oncology group within the School of Medicine. He graduated with a B.Sc. (hons) in physics from the University of Birmingham, England in 1993 and went onto do his PhD in gamma ray holography at the same institution. He took a postdoctoral research post at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, England for three years where he implemented a number of specialized brain radiotherapy protocols and researched the optimal treatment imaging and delivery methods. Before joining UC Davis, Dr Perks also took a clinical post at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, England and managed physics aspects of the Gamma Knife treatment delivery service. He joined UC Davis Medical School in March 2003 and is now a fully integrated member of the physics section. His current research goals are to further refine the treatment protocols for stereotactic brain treatments and to quantify the low dose portion of routine radiotherapy fields. His previous teaching experience is with both resident radiation oncology physicians and postdoctoral physicists.