MSc - Medical Physics

"The Braithwaite scholarship greatly eased the pressure and allowed me to focus less on the financial burden of the degree and more on enjoying what I came to Surrey to do: to further my knowledge of the subject area I wanted to make my career in."

I chose to come to Surrey because it offered an MSc in Medical Physics accredited by IPEM (Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine). Also, friends who had studied here in the past recommended the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences as being friendly, approachable and well-informed in its specialist subject areas. Guildford is a well-connected city, which also appealed to me because it meant I could stay in contact with my support network of friends in London and family in the South and South West while studying.

I applied for the Braithwaite Scholarship (which covers the course tuition fees) having seen it advertised on the Surrey website. I was already working as a painter and decorator to raise funds for my MSc, so I saw it as a good way of funding my studies and avoiding taking out another student loan. The Braithwaite scholarship greatly eased the pressure and allowed me to focus less on the financial burden of the degree and more on enjoying what I came to Surrey to do: to further my knowledge of the subject area I wanted to make my career in.

"One of the aspects of the course I have most enjoyed are the trips to medical physics centres in the surrounding area and the visit to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). There are also had lots of opportunities to meet and talk to potential employers and understand the industrial side of medical physics through talks from organisations such as ELEKTA, Public Health England and the Royal Surrey Hospital."

All the staff on my course are extremely approachable and friendly, and I’ve never felt that I couldn’t approach them with an academic or course related question. The external lecturers have also been very responsive, despite having a professional career outside of the university. I feel this is because all the lecturers are extremely passionate about what they do and love the opportunity to share their knowledge.

“The Masters course definitely gave me an advantage when applying for the NHS Scientist Training Programme.”

I became very interested in radiotherapy when a close family member was diagnosed with cancer and I began to research different types of treatment available, and this definitely affected my career path.

Having done a BSc in Radiotherapy I decided that I wanted to become a clinical scientist. I chose to do the Medical Physics course because the programme allowed me to apply for the NHS Scientist Training Programme.

The course at Surrey was very interesting and well taught. It included external visits to hospitals and equipment manufacturers for practical sessions which really helped to confirm what career path I wanted to take and looked great as experience on my CV.

I also got the opportunity to complete my dissertation project at a hospital. Towards the end of my Masters I was awarded a place on the three-year NHS training scheme, which involves working in a hospital (in my case the Royal Surrey County Hospital) and completing an MSc in Clinical Science part time. I work within the radiotherapy department, rotating around three different areas: dosimetry (measurement of radiation dose), treatment planning, and brachytherapy (internal radiotherapy using sealed radiation sources).

In dosimetry my daily work involves performing quality control checks on the many different features of the X-ray or linear accelerator machines we use to deliver treatment. In treatment planning, we use specialist software and algorithms to produce a customised treatment plan that puts a large radiation dose in the area a doctor wishes to treat while aiming to keep the surrounding normal tissue at safe levels. When working in brachytherapy we calibrate the radiation sources, consider safety aspects, plan treatments and also work with doctors during the insertion of sources in theatre.

The work is very varied and – since I am contributing to the treatment of patients – very rewarding.

The course definitely gave me an advantage when applying for the NHS Scientist Training Programme. I’m now coming to the end of my third year and have been offered a full time position at the hospital once my training is complete.