Medical Physicist

Your new home - a waterfront playground in the heart of Southern California - Long Beach
The Community – Long Beach, CA
Long Beach is a waterfront playground located right in the heart of Southern California. Here you can experience it all: a deep-sea adventure at the Aquarium of the Pacific, whale watching on the water, shopping in one of the city's many unique districts, a tour of coastal breweries, a vibrant foodie scene, and so much more! This city is known for its waterfront attractions, including the permanently docked RMS Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific. Long Beach also hosts the Grand Prix of Long Beach as well as the well-known Long Beach Pride Festival and Parade. California State University Long Beach, one of the largest universities in California by enrollment, is housed here as well.

Learn more about Long Beach!

Airport Information:
Your best bet in this department to get to Long Beach would be the LAX – the Los Angeles International Airport, which is a short 17 miles away from Long Beach and offers an average of nearly 700 daily nonstop flights to 113 different locations worldwide. Learn more about this airport here!

The Facility – VA Long Beach Healthcare System
The VA Long Beach Healthcare System provides you with outstanding health care, trains America's future health care providers, and conducts important medical research. The VA Long Beach Healthcare System is one of the leading health care systems serving Veterans in the VA Desert Pacific Network.
The VA Long Beach Healthcare System serves the health care needs of more than 50,000 Veterans in and around Long Beach, California.

Location: 5901 E 7th Street, Long Beach, CA 90822

Medical Physicist - RESPONSIBILITIES (listed are included but not limited to)

• The Medical Physicist shall primarily and professionally engage in the design, optimization and technical evaluation of radiation treatment plans as well as ensuring precise and accurate radiation dose delivery. Will be responsible for radiation protection of patients and staff.
• Shall be available, when necessary, for consultation with the Radiation Oncologist and to provide advice or direction to technical staff when radiation treatments are being planned or when patients are being treated. Where possible, should be present to observe and/or help supervise complicated simulations and/or treatment set-ups. Must be present at the machine during patient setup for SBRT/SRS and IGRT. Must be present at all times during Sterotactic Procedures (SRS, SRT, SBRT)
• Calculations: The board-certified medical physicist shall specify and monitor method(s) to calculate Mus or treatment times and ensure independent review(s) of such calculations. Any individual having appropriate training and experience may perform the initial calculation(s).
• Chart Review: shall develop and maintain a method for the weekly and systematic review of the charts of all patients under radiation treatment. All methods shall be approved by the VA Chief of Staff or designee. Shall perform a final chart review at the end of the course of radiation treatment to confirm that the prescribed dose has been delivered, and to document that the total prescribed dose has been delivered.
• Dosimetry: The modeling of radiation Beams for either planning or documentation purposes is generally performed with the aid of a treatment planning computer system. The board-certified medical physicist is responsible for data input into the planning system, which should be based upon measured beam data for the radiation beams in question, and for output from the planning system(s).
• Shall provide information on specification and selection in support of the VA's acquisition of radiation producing machines, accessories, and computerized treatment of planning systems in consultation with the NROP office. Shall also provide information to VA staff on timing of required maintenance of this equipment. Shall. Evaluate all equipment for continued utility, appropriateness, reliable performance, age, and condition and make recommendations to VA staff regarding practical lifespan, obsolescence, and replacement.
• Specialized equipment: the medical physicist shall determine the need for, specify, and have access to do symmetry and treatment planning equipment including, but not limited to, the following:
  • Measurement instruments to calibrate all treatment equipment and patient monitoring devices. Such instruments shall include ionization chambers/electrometers used as local standards and field instruments, readout devices, constancy check instruments, and phantoms.
  • Computerized treatment planning systems.
  • Computerized water phantom system with appropriate ionization chambers and diodes.
  • Film densitometry system.
  • Patient dose monitoring systems (e.g., Diodes and thermoluminescent dosimeters).
• Consultation: as needed, medical physicists shall provide advice and consultation, to VA and 3rd party clinical engineers, for the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the VA radiation oncology's linear accelerators and CT simulation equipment, all their relevant accessories and the computerized network interconnectivity; record and verification systems.

Qualifications

• Education: Must have a Master's degree in Medical Physics
• Must have at least 3 years of experience
  • Performing QA procedures
  • Experience in Therapeutic Medical Physics in a healthcare system that is ACR or APEx certified
  • Experience with Varian Linear Accelerators: TrueBeam with Brain Lab Accessories following standards of TG-142
  • Experience with Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) including Cone Beam CT
  • Experience with Eclipse treatment planning system; and ARIA record and verify system, including the following treatment modalities: 2D/3D Conformal, SRS, SRT, SBRT, and IMRT/VMAT
  • Experience IMRT QA: MApCheck (or equivalent)
  • Experience Client Discovery CT Simulator (or equivalent)
  • Experience using Superficial X-ray Machine
  • Successfully performed one acceptance testing on a linear accelerator
  • Successfully performed one commission of a linear accelerator for a treatment planning system
• Board Certified in Medical Physics or Therapeutic Medical Physics by the American Board of Radiology.