Overview
The CAMPEP-accredited Physics Residency Program in Radiation Oncology at Cleveland Clinic is a two-year training program. It was established in July 2009 under the direction of Ping Xia, PhD, Head of Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology.
- The two years are dedicated to hands-on clinical physics training for physicists having a graduate degree. Didactic lectures and seminars are part of the program in order to provide additional teaching of clinical radiation oncology.
The comprehensive program is equipped with the latest radiotherapy and radiosurgery technology related to: intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), Gamma Knife Radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy (lung, spine), permanent prostate seed brachytherapy, total body irradiation, high dose rate brachytherapy for gynecologic malignancies, radioimmunotherapy, and intraoperative radiation.
Residents, under the supervision of medical physicists and other healthcare professionals, will participate in the routine clinical duties of a radiation oncology physicist. At the conclusion of the program, residents will be able to demonstrate competency in all areas of radiation oncology physics and will be considered prepared/eligible to take the certification examination of the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic Radiology Physics.
Organizational Structure
Cleveland Clinic's Department of Radiation Oncology is an established program within a NCI-designated Cancer Center. The Department currently has seven service sites: at main campus and at eight of the regional hospitals. Clinical training is currently provided at the main campus and at one regional hospital (Hillcrest).
All physics residents will report to the Physics Residency Program Director and to the Head of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology. The Physics Education Committee oversees the operation and the evaluation of the program. The physics residents are appointed by Cleveland Clinic Graduate Medical Education and receive an equivalent benefits package as the medical residents in clinical radiation oncology. In addition to regular teaching conferences, seminars, journal clubs and chart rounds, physics residents will have the opportunity to attend all of the courses offered by the department, including a year-round radiation physics course offered to medical residents. The physics residents can also take graduate courses offered by the Physics Department at Cleveland State University, where Cleveland Clinic is partnered for a Masters Degree program in Medical Physics.
Training
Program Completion Requirements
Cleveland Clinic residency training program follows the “Essentials and Guidelines for Hospital Based Medical Physics Residency Training Programs” as outlined in AAPM Report #90. Upon completion of the program, the residents are expected to demonstrate competency in practicing fundamental clinical radiation oncology physics procedures and to have a comprehensive understanding of all clinical topics in radiation oncology physics. The residents are expected to be prepared to pass the American Board of Radiology exams. For this, 24 months of clinical training and education is provided.
Clinical Rotations
The residents work closely with faculty physicists and clinical staff in the Radiation Oncology Department. Each resident participates in clinical procedures and QA measurements. The resident will follow a clinical rotation schedule, and each rotation consists of several clinical modules with defined goals and evaluation methods. Competency in every clinical module must be demonstrated, and each resident's performance will be evaluated by the teaching faculty at the completion of each year. Written reports, written exams, and oral exams are included in the evaluation.
| Module Name / Code | Code | Description | Mentor / Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orientation & Introduction to Department Systems | INT | Observation at treatment machines and simulators IMPAC and systems training Professionalism and Ethics |
Magnelli/Wilkinson 1 Month |
| Imaging | IMG | IGRT, CBCT, CT Simulation, Image Fusion, Data Transfer, DICOM | Yu Concurrent with TPE/TPI and TBD |
| Linac Beam Calibration | LBC | TG-51 calibration. | Kolar TBD Year 2 |
| TLD and In Vivo Dosimetry | IVD | Calibration and use of TLD's and MOSFETs. | Magnelli Concurrent with TPE/TPI |
| Basic Dose Calculations | BDC | Manual (hand) calculations of various simple beam arrangements | Wilkinson Concurrent with TPE/TPI |
| Dose Modeling for TPS | DMO | Beam modeling in Pinnacle | Xia TBD Year 2 |
| Treatment Planning, external beam 3D | TPE | Use of Pinnacle TPS | Kolar 3 Months |
| Treatment Planning IMRT | TPI | Use of Pinnacle TPS | Kolar 3 Months |
| Electron Beam Planning | EBP | Use of Pinnacle TPS along with measured output factors | Qi Concurrent with TPE/TPI |
| Radiation Protection and Shielding | RPS | Shielding calculations for radiation therapy vault. | Stongosky TBD |
| Applied Health Physics | APH | Radiation safety tasks including dose rate surveys and receipt of radioactive materials | Miller TBD |
| Brachytherapy | BRT | HDR LDR |
Wilkinson 4 Months |
| Linac Annual QA | LAQ | Annual linac QA for Elektra, Siemens, and Varian systems | Guo TBD |
| Linac Monthly QA | LMQ | Monthly linac QA for Elektra, Siemens, and Varian systems | Guo Ongoing |
| Patient Chart Checks | PCC | Standard plans; patient specific MU and plan checks | Xia Ongoing |
| Quality and Process Improvement | QPI | Workflow enhancement Root cause or incident analysis |
Guo Ongoing |
| Stereotactic Radiosurgery | SRS | Radiosurgery using 60Co Gamma Knife | Neyman 1 Month |
| Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy | SBRT | Simulation, treatment planning and delivery of SBRT | Magnelli 2 Months |
| IMRT Patient QA | IPQ | Patient specific IMRT dose verification | Qi Ongoing |
| Measurement Instrument QA | MIQ | Intercomparison of dosimetry systems | Kolar TBD |
| Total Body Irradiation and Total Skin Electron Therapy | TBS | Techniques for total body irradiation (photons) and total skin electron therapy | Qi TBD |
| Intra-operative Radiation Therapy | IORT | QA, pre-treatment planning and delivery using Intrabeam device | Kolar/Magnelli TBD |
| Regional Physics Practice | RPP | Experience in working in a smaller, community setting | Strongosky 6 Months |
| Year | Rotation | Modules |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-1 | INT, TPE, RPS, LMQ, IPQ |
| 1 | 1-2 | BDD, BDC, IVD, LMQ, IPQ |
| 1 | 1-3 | TPI, MIQ, IMG, LMQ, IPQ |
| 1 | 1-4 | RPP |
| 2 | 2-1 | DMO, BRT, LBC, LMQ, IPQ |
| 2 | 2-2 | PCC, SRS, RPS, LMQ, IPQ |
| 2 | 2-3 | RPP |
| 2 | 2-4 | EBP, TBS, SBT, LMQ, IPQ |
Didactic Education
Besides formal coursework, all residents will be encouraged to attend departmental and regional AAPM conferences. This is designed to help the residents to develop knowledge of routine clinical operations in radiation oncology physics. These conferences include weekly chart rounds, cancer center grand rounds, visiting professors lectures, radiation safety in-services, bi-weekly radiation oncology physics research meeting and journal club. At the discretion of the Physics Education Committee, residents will have the opportunity to attend refresher courses offered at the AAPM annual meetings, AAPM summer school, and ASTRO annual meetings, etc.
Other Education
Any resident accepted into the program must satisfactorily have completed, or will complete, the appropriate courses required by the American Board of Radiology. If courses are required, the program duration increases correspondingly.
Graduation
Upon completion of the program, a certificate will be awarded subject to the following requirements:
- Satisfactory completion of clinical rotations as documented in the rotation evaluation form, with all checklists signed by the supervising physicist and Physics Residency Program Director.
- Satisfactory completion of Cleveland Clinic’s mandated on-line medical education courses (COMET).
- Preparation and presentation of at least two talks each year on clinical medical physics procedures.
- Satisfactory attendance in all required clinical and medical physics courses, seminars and conferences including medical physics seminars, radiation safety in-services, chart rounds, and clinical morning conferences.
- Successfully passing end-of-year examinations as outlined by the Physics Education Committee.
Benefits
| Grad Level | New Annual Rate |
| 1 | $59,815 |
| 2 | $61,830 |
| 3 | $63,828 |
Highlights:
- Vacation: 15 days (3 weeks) per year plus a variable number of meeting days and institutional holidays.
- Office space: Each resident has a personal desk space with a laptop and dual monitor computer which has access to patient information and the Internet.
- Pagers: Cleveland Clinic has a text paging system.
- Cleveland Clinic iPhone: Each resident receives a Cleveland Clinic issued iPhone from the start to end of your residency.
- Benefits: All benefits offered to residents and fellows are developed and implemented by Cleveland Clinic’s Graduate Medical Education Council (GMEC). Learn more.
Applying
We are seeking candidates with a PhD/MS in Medical Physics, Physics, or related fields for two medical physics resident positions. The physics residents will work with a team of physicists and dosimetrists to be trained in all aspects of clinical radiation therapy physics. This position is designed to include two years of clinical training with optional 1-year research.
Candidates must have a PhD/MS degree from CAMPEP accredited graduate programs in medical physics, or have a PhD degree in physics, biophysics, radiological sciences, engineering, or a related field and have completed a CAMPEP-accredited certificate diploma. Candidate applications will be reviewed by the Physics Education Committee. The selected applicants will be interviewed via telephone by the program director and/or designated committee members and then invited for an on-site interview. The physics faculty will rank the candidates interviewed who will be notified about the admission decision in a timely fashion.
It is the continuing policy of Cleveland Clinic that all terms and conditions of employment, including but not necessarily limited to, recruitment, appointment, promotion, compensation, benefits, transfers, training, education, and social and recreational programs will be administered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin or ancestry, disability, or status as a disabled or Vietnam-era veteran.
Residents
Current Physics Residents
- Chieh-Wen Liu, PhD – July 2021 – July 2024 (1 Year of Research – 2 Years Clinical Training)
- Ananta Raj Chalise, PhD – July 2022 – June 2024 (2 Years Clinical Training)
- Zhexuan Zhang, PhD – July 2022 – June 2024 (2 Years Clinical Training)
- Christopher Busch, MS – July 2023 – June 2025 (2 Years Clinical Training)
Medical Physics Resident Program Statistics
| Academic Year | Applicants | Accepted | Graduated |
| 2009 | NA | 1 | 0 |
| 2010 | NA | 2 | 1 |
| 2011 | 52 | 2 | 0 |
| 2012 | 58 | 1 | 1 |
| 2013 | 101 | 2 | 1 |
| 2014 | 85 | 2 | 3 |
| 2015 | 106 | 2 | 2 |
| 2016 | 75 | 2 | 1 |
| 2017 | 72 | 2 | 1 |
| 2018 | 69 | 2 | 4 |
| 2019 | 56 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | 67 | 2 | 3 |
| 2021 | 63 | 2 | 1 |
| 2022 | 64 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | 129 | 1 | 2 |
Previous Physics Residents
| Year | Resident's Name | Current Work Address |
| 2010 | Yuenan Wang, PhD | Cancer Institute Hospital, CAMS |
| 2012 | Peng Qi, PhD | Cleveland Clinic Main Campus |
| 2013 | Long (Max) Huang, PhD | Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital |
| 2014 | Ahmad Amoush, PhD | Mount Sinai Beth Israel |
| 2014 | Han Liu, PhD | Cone Health Cancer Center, Greensboro, NC |
| 2014 | Wen Li, PhD | Consultant – China and U.S. |
| 2015 | Salim Balik, PhD | University of Southern CA |
| 2015 | Qingyang (Grace) Shang, PhD | Cone Health Cancer Center, Greensboro, NC |
| 2016 | Zhilei Liu (Julie) Shen, PhD | University of Southern CA |
| 2017 | Monica Andrews, PhD | The C.R.O.P.S., Inc. (Clinical Radiation Oncology Physics Services, Inc. |
| 2018 | Taoran Cui, PhD | Rutgers University at New Jersey |
| 2018 | Susan Kost, PhD | Cleveland Clinic Mansfield |
| 2018 | Michelle Sands, PhD | Advocate Health in Chicago. Will primarily cover Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove |
| 2018 | Kyle Verdecchia, PhD | Henry Ford Hospital |
| 2019 | Lei "Richard" Qiu, PhD | Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University |
| 2020 | Gleb Kuzmin, PhD | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center |
| 2020 | Tianjun Ma, PhD | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| 2020 | Zi Ouyang, PhD | UH Seidman Cancer Center |
| 2021 | Alexander Antolak, MS | Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital |
| 2022 | Saeed Ahmed, PhD | University of Kansas Medical Center |
| 2022 | Jorge Zavala, PhD | University of New Mexico |
| 2023 | Tara Gray, PhD | Cleveland Clinic |
| 2023 | Mojtaba Moazzezi, PhD | Christiana Hospital |
More Info
You may obtain additional information about the Radiation Physics Residency Program by contacting:
Michelle Monak
Program Coordinator
Radiation Oncology (CA-50)
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
Phone: 216.444.8783
Email: monakm2@ccf.org
