True Tales of Medical Physics

What is Medical Physics? And Other Related Questions.- The Elevator that Couldn't and the Laundry Cart that Could.- The Decades of Change.- Looking Back at 50 Years in Medical Physics - the Ugly, the Bad and the Good.- A Day in the Life of a Medical Physicist.- YOU Can Change the Medicine.-  "How good are you?".

Jacob Van Dyk is Professor Emeritus of Oncology and Medical Biophysics at the Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, and Former Head of Physics and Engineering at the London Regional Cancer Program (LRCP) of the London Health Sciences Centre. He has over 40 years of experience in the practical facets of radiation oncology physics with 24 years at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1971-1995); 15 years at the London Regional Cancer Program (LRCP), London, Ontario, Canada (1995-2010); and nearly two years at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria (2009-2011). During his tenure at PMH, he took a one-year leave of absence (1974-1975) to work at the Centre de Radiothérapy, Hôpital Cantonal de Génève, in Geneva, Switzerland.
During his recent years at the LRCP, he was associated with research grants averaging about $1 Million per year involving various aspects of the implementation of modern technology into clinical practice. Since retirement, he has worked on projects related to radiation therapy resource analysis in different income environments around the world as well as providing medical physics guidance in low-to-middle income countries.

He has won various teaching awards. He was elected Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in July 1997 for his "contributions to the field of medical physics". In 2004, he was elected Fellow of The Institute of Physics (London, U.K.) "in recognition of his status in the physics community". In 2011, he was awarded the Gold Medal by the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP). This is the highest honour which COMP bestows on a member of COMP to recognize an outstanding career as Medical Physicist who has worked mainly in Canada. In July 2012, he was presented with COMP's inaugural Fellow of COMP (FCOMP) award in recognition of "his significant contribution to the organization and to the field ofmedical physics in Canada". In 2013, in view

"If this capsule history of the Nobel Prizes related to medical physics piques your curiosity about the field, you may want to dip into Van Dyk's book ... which brings the story of medical physics to the present day with contributions from 22 leading medical physicists from around the world. Happy browsing!" (Rajeev Bansal, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 65 (1), February, 2023)
"[This] book is a collection of real-life stories told by award-winning medical physicists. ... As the titles ... suggest, a medical physicist is perhaps more than history, more than clinical service, more than research, more than protection of the public, more than teaching and more than commercial developments. Hopefully, readers of this book will leave with a fuller grasp of what medical physics is - and perhaps even be inspired to look into it as a worthwhile career option for themselves." (TamiFreeman, physicsworld.com, October 11, 2022)