Medical Physics Seminar - Marian Axente

In a 2015 JACMP editorial, Dr. George Starkschall wrote: “We need to remember that our role as medical physics teachers is not to teach our students medical physics. Our role as medical physics teachers is to teach our students to learn medical physics.” This change in nuance inspired a paradigm shift in education that is ongoing, with varying degrees of implementation within our educational infrastructure. Through various committees under the AAPM’s Education Council, members are working to reform education in medical physics and share best teaching practices. However, the most common educator is still the practicing medical physicist, who may not have the focused training or the protected time to learn about cognitive science and adapt their teaching practices accordingly. So how do we commit to education reform, and what does it mean in the current context. In this presentation, I aim to share my discovery process around education and mentorship and present a brief outline of how best practices can be implemented in our educational moments wherever those may occur.