Curriculum

The BMP curriculum will be organized in two portions. The first, comprising a majority of the first year of coursework, will focus on fundamental knowledge in biomedical physics and translational research. In the second portion the students will design a “specialization area” in which they will select additional courses to provide deeper grounding. This structure allows development of a strong, cohesive student body through their common curriculum as they begin their graduate studies, before they move into their individual course and research areas. While the number of courses required by these common and specialization curricula is considerably more than in Biosciences PhD programs within the School of Medicine, this course load is comparable to that required by a number of traditional engineering PhD programs, such as Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. The Biomedical Physics program is similar to engineering PhD programs in that much of the required foundational knowledge is best delivered in a didactic setting rather than at the bench, as is common for the Biosciences programs. Furthermore, this course load is compatible with requirements for program accreditation by CAMPEP, one of the goals for this program to facilitate training of clinical medical physicists. It should be emphasized that the curriculum for each student will be designed in conjunction with their first-year advisor, research advisor, and the program directors and executive committee. Students that can demonstrate proficiency in required areas may be excused from courses that would be redundant. This may be especially important for prospective MSTP trainees interested in pursuing their PhD in the BMP program, or for entering students who have already earned a Masters degree.

The common course requirements include three 3-unit core courses (RAD 222: Multi-modality Molecular Imaging, RAD 220: Imaging and Image-Based Human Anatomy, and RADO 202: Basic Science of Radiation and Cancer Biology), to be taken in the fall, winter, and spring by all of the first-year students in the program, respectively. Each of these courses focuses on one of the three program focus areas, providing a foundation in the complete scope of biomedical physics to all BMP students. In addition, first-year students will take 1-unit seminar course in the fall and winter (BMP 299: Seminar Series in Biomedical Physics). A single course on professionalism and ethics, chosen from options including MED 255: The Responsible Conduct of Research, BIOE 131: Ethics in Bioengineering, and BIOS 258: Ethics, Science and Society will also be required. The remainder of the common requirements will emphasize breadth across different areas common to biomedical physics, including human anatomy and physiology (4 units) as well as quantitation and computation in biomedicine (6 units). Lists of courses preapproved as satisfying these required areas are given in  Table 3 below. This curriculum therefore contains a total of 20 required units, of which 9 consist of the core courses describe below while the remaining 11 can be selected from a list of options. This was done to maximize the amount of customization afforded to students in order to allow tailoring of their coursework to their individual needs. This will be done in collaboration with the program directors and their first-year advisor. These course requirements are structured so as to encourage development of a BMP student community as they take a similar slate of courses in their first year. The common core has been designed so as to accommodate students with a variety of backgrounds and levels of familiarity with biology, physics, and mathematics, permitting students to either gain fundamental exposure to critical topics in biomedical physics needed to take more advanced courses or to hone existing areas of knowledge as appropriate. This slate of common courses is felt to represent an optimal balance between providing breadth and depth across all the sub-disciplines of biomedical physics, as well as giving adequate foundation in critical related science including anatomy and physiology, quantitation and signal processing, and biomedical ethics.

By the conclusion of the first year in the program, students will propose and discuss an area in which to focus their second-year coursework with support from their research mentor, first-year advisor, and program directors. These depth areas may be designed within the scope of the overall Biomedical Physics program and may be comprised of courses that enable a student’s research topic. One possible specialization area is Radiation Physics, emphasizing radiation safety, dosimetry, and cancer therapy. This is a unique example in that this depth area will be specifically designed to earn accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP), in order to facilitate the development of interested students into clinical medical physicists. Other possible areas of focus include Imaging Science, including the underlying physics, design, and specific hardware implementations of imaging systems, and various techniques of data acquisition, image reconstruction, and image analysis. There are many different medical imaging modalities in which a trainee may choose to specialize. A third representative example would be Molecular Imaging and Diagnostics, including non-invasive molecular imaging technologies, proteomics, chemistry, cell and molecular biology, and bioinformatics. These examples are provided to give an idea of the types of specialization areas a student may pursue, however the specific area chosen by a student and the courses selected to complete it may be tailored to meet a specific student’s education and research needs under the guidance of the research mentor, first-year advisor, and program directors. Additional coursework in these specialization areas will provide depth of expertise in the area in which the student will focus their doctoral research. Lists of courses that would be appropriate for the three representative areas are provided in Tables 4-6 below. Students will be required to complete a total of 12 units in their chosen area, comprised of courses from the lists provided and/or courses deemed acceptable by the program directors.