Program Overview

The Medical Physics Residency Program at the John Theurer Cancer Center (JTCC) at Hackensack University Medical Center opened its doors to its first resident in October 2021 after attaining CAMPEP accreditation. The Residency is run and overseen by highly experienced staff within the JTCC’s Department of Radiation Oncology that includes six ABR certified physicists, four ABR certified physicians and five board certified dosimetrists. It is a two-year program that emphasizes clinical excellence and professional development in Radiation Oncology Physics, with the residents progressively picking up increasing responsibilities under the supervision of qualified medical physicists. The expected activities, objectives and assessments to be completed during the residency are well-defined and are presented to incoming residents on their arrival. The Residency includes faculty guided and self-directed learning, but most of the time is spent in “hands-on” clinical rotations. Residents are expected to become an integral part of the Department of Radiation Oncology performing clinical duties while interacting closely with the entire department personnel, including physicians, dosimetrists, and therapists, in a collegial manner. The successful resident will be able to demonstrate competency in all areas of clinical Radiation Oncology Physics and will be ready for board certification by the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic Radiologic Physics once prerequisites of the Board are met. The benefits of the residency include professional career training, clinical research opportunities, a competitive salary and benefits package (health insurance, books, vacation, sick leave) and travel to one professional Medical Physics meeting. Upon graduating, residents are presented with a Certificate of Residency Completion and the expectation is that they will be ready for a career in clinical medical physics.

Opened at the current location in January 2011, the JTCC Radiation Oncology Department is a state-of-the-art vibrant center offering integrated clinical and research activities of the highest order. It is equipped with a Gamma Knife Icon unit, three Varian linear accelerators including a Varian 21EX and 2 STX Truebeams, one of which has a 6 DOF couch and advanced techniques including triggered imaging and respiratory gating, two helical Tomotherapy units (TomoEdge and Radixact), and most recently, a novel biology guided radiotherapy system, Reflexion SCINTIX installed in 2023. The Radixact is capable of real-time tumor tracking radiotherapy using the synchrony system. All TrueBeams and the Tomotherapy units are equipped with capabilities of image guided radiotherapy using OBI/Cone-beam CT. The Reflexion SCINTIX is the latest addition to the radiotherapy systems and combines a LINAC, kVCT and PET in one unit with capability of real-time tumor tracking delivery using biological signals from the tumor itself.

The center is also equipped with 2 big bore Philips CT simulators with 4DCT capabilities. Additional imaging equipment such as 3T and 1.5T MRI units, PET/CT unit, etc are available for use through a well-established collaboration between Radiation Oncology and HUMC’s department of Radiology. Treatment planning is performed using Varian Eclipse, Philips Pinnacle, Accuray Precision, GammaPlan and Elekta Oncentra (for HDR brachytherapy). Monitor Unit Second Calculations are done via RadCalc. Varian Velocity software is available for advanced image and plan fusion. There is an extensive list of radiation dosimetry equipment available for resident use and training.

The JTCC offers a wide range of radiation oncology procedures including 3D-CRT, IMRT, VMAT, SRS (both LINAC and Gamma Knife based), SBRT, TBI, IORT (breast), and HDR/LDR brachytherapy.