Medical physics in the Philippines

Abstract

Medical physics is "that branch of physics associated with the practice of medicine." Its major subfields cover medical imaging and patient treatment. Medical physicists work in hospitals, universities, regulatory agencies, and in private companies. The first Filipino medical physicist was Luciano Niguidula, a University of the Philippines engineering alumnus who taught physics in UP. He moved to the Philippine General Hospital which, in the late 1930's, sent him to the USA to train in x-ray physics and x-ray equipment design. One of his mentors was the physics Nobel laureate Arthur Compton. The master's degree program in medical physics in the Philippines started in 1981 in the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School. It was established as a joint project of the Department of Health, the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission, and the UST with technical assistance from the International Atomic Energy Agency. To date, the program has produced 105 graduates.