The Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is seeking a Senior Staff Clinical Medical Physicist to join our team, with the opportunity to affiliate clinical medical physics practice with the Vanderbilt Medical Group of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC).  This is a non-faculty designated position, with preferred experience of a minimum 2 years post ABR certification.  VICC, one of 71 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, provides cancer care services throughout the Greater Nashville area and is dedicated to an integrated, patient-focused approach to cancer research, treatment, support, prevention, education, and outreach.

Minimum Qualifications 

Successful candidates for this position must: (1) have a MS, DMP, or Ph.D. in medical physics, physics, engineering, or related physical science and (2) be ABR/ABMP board certified or board eligible in therapeutic medical physics. 

Specific Job Related Duties 

Successful candidates will be responsible for the precise and accurate delivery of radiation treatment plans and the safety of patients and treatment staff, providing clinical radiation therapy physics services for the Department’s EBRT, IMRT, IGRT, SRS, SBRT, HDR and LDR brachytherapy programs.  Routine clinical medical physics services include chart checking, machine calibrations, physician consult, and ongoing quality assurance.  Successful candidates will also oversee / assist with new equipment acceptance and commissioning, dosimetric data acquisition, SRS and brachytherapy treatment planning, and clinical personnel training.  The clinical activities of satellite facilities are supported by the Department’s integrated Physics and Dosimetry groups and candidates will be expected to provide coverage at these sites as needed (typically no more than 2-3 days per month).  Creating a safe and efficient clinical operation is of paramount importance to Department leadership and, as such, a successful candidate will be expected to participate in initiatives promoting these standards; e.g. procedural and workflow quality improvement projects.

Preferred Skill/Competency 

The ideal candidate has excellent verbal and written communications skills, strong technical skills, and a commitment to exemplary clinical practice, research and teaching.  Leadership opportunities within the physics group are also applicable to appropriately experienced individuals.

Department Description

The Department of Radiation Oncology will soon be staffed with fifteen board-certified or eligible Medical Physicists (nine Ph.D., one DMP, and five M.S.) and eight board-certified Dosimetrists.  The Downtown Nashville location is equipped with four Varian linear accelerators: two TrueBeams, one Novalis TX SRS delivery system, and our second Ethos Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART) unit.  The Novalis TX system is additionally equipped with BrainLab’s ExacTrac Dynamic image guidance system.  Additionally, there are three installed VisionRT AlignRT surface imaging devices.  Our four satellite facilities house five Varian linear accelerators (two TrueBeams, two Varian Clinac units, and one Ethos) and are located within a 50-mile radius of the main facility in Nashville proper.

Additional clinical equipment includes (1) five CT Simulators (Philips, GE, and Siemens models, all with 4DCT capabilities); two Varian Bravos HDR afterloaders (gynecological, intracavitary, interstitial, and skin treatments), (3) an intraoperative LDR seed implant program (prostate and eye plaque), and (4) an IntraOp Mobetron Intraoperative radiation therapy linear accelerator. Treatment planning systems include Varian Eclipse, Varian Ethos Treatment Planning System, BrainLab iPlan and Elements, Varian BrachyVision (HDR), and MIM Symphony for LDR Prostate plans. The Department also utilizes MIM Maestro and ProtégéAI for deformable image registrations and contour auto segmentation, respectively, and RadCalc as its secondary dose calculation engine. Varian’s ARIA suite serves as the Department’s record and verify system and VUMC utilizes EPIC for electronic medical record management. 

The department also houses our CAMPEP accredited graduate (through Vanderbilt University School of Medicine) and residency (through Vanderbilt University Medical Center) medical physics programs.

About Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center

• One of 51 NCI designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers
• Ranked 9^th in competitively awarded NCI funding
• Provide care for over 7,000 new cancer patients each year
• Access to over 350 clinical trials at any given time
• More than 300 researchers and physician-scientists in eight research programs