ABSTRACT
Medical physicists are professionals with a strong academic background in general physics, medical physics topics and other medically related subjects including anatomy, physiology and pathology. They work in research and development, education and clinical medical physics. In addition to physicists, there are many other medical professionals, especially radiologists, radiographers and technologists, who apply physics in their clinical activities. The two types of medical procedures that are based on physics are diagnosis and therapy. There are several forms of therapy based on the application of various forms of physical energy to the body to treat and hopefully cure various diseases, injuries or other abnormal conditions. The use of ionising radiation is the medical specialty of radiation oncology or radiotherapy and is done by or under the direction of qualified medical professionals, generally physicians certified in that field. Medical physicists play a significant role in therapeutic procedures using ionising radiation to treat cancer.
