Diagnostic Imaging Physics Residency
The overall goal of the Diagnostic Imaging Physics Residency Program at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is to produce highly trained medical physicists who will improve patient care by optimizing imaging equipment procurement, usage, and maintenance, and who will advance imaging science by engaging in interdisciplinary team research. OHSU provides the critical combination of outstanding faculty and expert clinical staff in an environment of established interdisciplinary cooperation and exceptional institutional and departmental resources.
The Diagnostic Imaging Physics Residency will admit one new resident per year with a July 1st start date and will provide two years of post-graduate clinical training. In addition to the clinical exposure and professional maturation that will occur continuously throughout the residency, trainees will have the opportunity to conduct clinically-based research throughout the program. OHSU is the state’s only academic medical center and will provide residents with the unique opportunity to gain professional experience in areas of teaching and presenting, with numerous opportunities throughout the two-year program to teach graduate students, medical residents, radiologic technologists, and hospital staff on topics ranging from basic imaging physics to clinical fluoroscopy safety.
Residency training and education will be under the supervision of experienced medical physicists and is designed to provide extensive clinical experience and prepare residents to practice diagnostic imaging physics independently. The program abides by all CAMPEP standards for residency education and obtained initial CAMPEP accreditation in 2021.
Program faculty
Residents
Living in Portland
Find out what Portland has to offer!
Explore resources.
"I love living in Portland because there are so many places to visit in and around the city. Portland is surrounded by national forests, plus Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and the Pacific Coast are all within a few hours drive from the city center, so I have enjoyed spending my weekends exploring the beautiful PNW. OHSU’s main campus is situated atop Marquam Hill, so during the work week, we still get wonderful views of the city (my daily commute even includes a ride on the aerial tram!). The people here are great, too; the physics team gets along well at work and we meet up for various social events after hours." - Lindsay Douglas, Ph.D., current resident
"Portland is the perfect city – no matter which neighborhood you live in, you are never more than a few blocks away from a locally owned coffee shop, an eclectic theme bar, and a well-trafficked public park.
Getting around Portland is a breeze! Between the robust transit system, excellent biking infrastructure, abundant sidewalks, and manageable car traffic, traversing the city is effortless and fun.
People in Portland live to enjoy their lives. It’s a culture of relaxed, easy-going folks who know how to have a good time. Just walking around you’ll stumble upon events like a silent roller disco, an adult soapbox derby, a milk carton boat race, or a witch-themed paddleboard race.
If you like food, you will love Portland. Aspiring chefs from all over come here to test inventive recipes in pop-up, food cart, and restaurant settings, and Portlanders are more than receptive. Moreover, dietary restrictions and preferences are king in Portland; everyone you’re with will be able to find something to eat wherever you go.
Not only is there plenty to do and see in Portland, but day trips from the city are ample and offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences. From Portland, it is 30 minutes to the hundreds of waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge, 1 hour to the ski slopes of Mount Hood, 2 hours to fresh seafood and whale watching on the Oregon Coast, 3 hours to the high desert (and last Blockbuster) of Bend, or 4 hours to the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland." - Grace Eliason, M.S., former resident
2024 Residency Updates
AAPM STSC Residency Fair 2024
Monday, September 9 | 1:00 - 2:15PM PST (4:00-5:15PM EST)
Friday, September 20 | 1:00-2:15PM PST (4:00-5:15PM EST)
Annual AAPM Meeting Residency Fair 2024 | July 21-25, 2024
Session B | July 21: 2:30-4pm | Exhibit Hall of the LA Convention Center
Journal of Medical Imaging | Vol. 11, Issue 3, 034501 | May 2024
Lindsay Douglas, Ph.D. has a paper published, titled: "Computerized assessment of background parenchymal enhancement on breast dynamic contrast-enhanced-MRI including electronic lesion removal". Read more here.
NWAAPM Chapter Meeting | May 10, 2024 | Portland, Oregon
Lindsay Douglas, Ph.D. gave a talk and won first place in the SLAM competition at the NWAAPM Chapter Meeting. Her talk was titled "Computerized background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) assessment from a dataset of high-risk screening breast DCE-MRIs." MedPhys SLAM is a 3-minute, 3-slide presentation designed for communicating the significance of our research to the general public. Dr. Douglas will be representing our chapter by competing in the SLAM competition at the upcoming annual AAPM meeting in Los Angeles in July.
AAPM Spring Clinical Meeting | March 23 - 26, 2024 | St. Louis, Missouri
Early Career Investigator Clinical Symposium | Awarded 1st Runner Up in the competition | Catherine Meyer, Ph.D.
Quantitative Imaging of 177Lu-PSMA-617 for Response Monitoring and Dosimetry
Lindsay DeWeese, Ph.D.
Advancing Gender Equity through Interprofessional Collaboration
Match 2024
We matched with Hannah Grover from University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio!
Hannah moved from Boerne, TX to attend the Colorado School of Mines, where she enrolled in the combined degree program to obtain a B.S. in Engineering Physics and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering. During her time at Mines, she discovered a passion for not only learning, but teaching physics through various tutoring opportunities. Her master’s thesis focused on optimizing detectors for implantation experiments at the newly established Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. Her desire to apply her love for physics to a different field turned her to medical physics, and she successfully defended her dissertation on the impact of iodinated contrast agent on absorbed radiation dose during mammography exams to earn her Ph.D. in Radiological Sciences. She is excited to join the Diagnostic Imaging Physics Residency program and utilize her skills to benefit patient care.
2023 Residency Updates
AAPM STSC Residency Fair 2023
Wednesday 9/6 1:30-2:50PM PST (4:30-5:50PM EST)
Friday 9/22 9/6 1:30-2:50PM PST (4:30-5:50PM EST)
SNMMI Ones to Watch: Catherine Meyer, Ph.D.
Summer SDAMPP (Society of Directors of Academic Medical Physics Programs) Meeting/AAPM 2023
Lindsay DeWeese was an invited speaker at the 2023 SDAMPP Annual meeting for a Women Program Director Spotlight and Invited Panelist for a session entitled “Removing Barriers to Leadership”.
Match 2023
We matched with Lindsay Douglas, Ph.D.!
Lindsay Douglas earned a B.S. in Physics with minors in Biology, Math, and Computational Science from the University of Tulsa. She then attended the University of Chicago where she completed her Ph.D. in Medical Physics. During that time, her research was focused on background parenchymal enhancement from breast DCE-MRI for cancer risk assessment. Lindsay has been recognized as an emerging leader in academic medical physics, and she is excited to take the next step in her clinical medical physics career by completing her diagnostic imaging physics residency at OHSU. Having been born and raised in the Midwest, Lindsay is looking forward to exploring the PNW. In her free time, she enjoys baking, attending concerts, and attempting to keep all her plants alive.
AAPM Northwest Chapter Meeting | April 28, 2023 | Portland, OR
Oral Presentation | Anna Mench, Ph.D., DABR
Theranostics Fundamentals
Oral Presentation | Celeste Winters, Ph.D., DABR
Quantitative Imaging for Dosimetry
Oral Presentation | Catherine (Caffi) Meyer, Ph.D.
Dosimetry for Radiopharmaceuticals: Current Approaches and Future Directions
AAPM Spring Clinical Meeting 2023 | April 1 - 4, 2023
Best Poster Competition | Grace Eliason, M.S., and Lindsay DeWeese, Ph.D., DABR:
DR Technique Chart Development: Can Exposure Data Replace Phantom Measurements?
Invited Presentation | Catherine Meyer, Ph.D., Celeste Winters, Ph.D., and Anna Mench, Ph.D., DABR:
Developing a 177-Lu Theranostics Program: Overview and Lessons Learned
Florida AAPM Chapter Meeting 2023
Caffi Meyer was an invited speaker at the 2023 Fall Florida Chapter of the AAPM meeting. Her talk was titled “The Next Frontier of Radiopharmaceuticals”.
Alumni
Grace Eliason, M.S.
Grace Eliason, M.S., graduated from the Diagnostic Imaging Physics Residency Program at OHSU in June, 2023 and is now an assistant professor and clinical imaging physicist at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus. She acts as a guest member on AAPM Task Group 389 as well as the Accessibility Subcommittee and participates in the AAPM Mentorship Program. Her research interests include skin dose estimation for fluoroscopically guided interventions and Y-90 radioembolization dosimetry.
Grace joined the residency program after completing her master’s degree in medical physics at OHSU, where her thesis was titled, “Characterizing error in peak skin dose calculations for fluoroscopically guided interventions”. Residency solidified Grace’s emphasis in interventional radiology and prepared her for her role as an Authorized Medical Physicist for Y-90 procedures at CU Anschutz. The OHSU residency also provided a broad range of clinical physics opportunities, preparing her for Parts 2 and 3 of the ABR as well as her current role. She plans to maintain certification in mammography and CT in addition to fluoroscopy and radiography.
Celeste Winters, Ph.D., DABR
Celeste Winters, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and Diagnostic Imaging Medical Physicist in the department of Diagnostic Radiology at the OHSU School of Medicine. She earned both her master's and doctoral degrees in the OHSU Medical Physics Program, and was delighted to stay at OHSU as the first Diagnostic Imaging Medical Physics Resident in 2020. When pursuing a residency match, Dr. Winters wanted a residency program that would give her training and experience for the type of medical physics career she wanted – one with research, teaching, and clinical work. Her residency training at OHSU has allowed her to hit the ground running as OHSU faculty, where she is involved nuclear medicine research, teaching in the graduate and residency programs, and clinical nuclear medicine testing.
Caffi Meyer, Ph.D.
Caffi Meyer, Ph.D, is a Medical Physicist and Assistant Adjunct Professor in the department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA. She joined the Imaging Physics Residency Program at OHSU in 2022 after receiving a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from UCLA where her research focused on nuclear medicine cancer imaging and theranostics. Her clinical interests include SPECT image quantification and the integration of radiation dosimetry for radiopharmaceutical therapies to build towards more personalized treatments for patients. The OHSU residency provided immersive opportunities to collaborate closely with the clinical team in the Molecular Imaging & Therapy section and to participate in research related to quantitative imaging and dosimetry to further her hybrid clinical and academic career interests.
Application process
All applicants to the OHSU Diagnostic Imaging Physics Residency must have obtained a Masters or Doctoral degree from a CAMPEP accredited medical physics program. PhD applicants with completion of a CAMPEP-accredited certificate program are also eligible to apply. If a PhD applicant does not come from a CAMPEP-accredited program, coursework equivalent to the CAMPEP standards for graduate education must be reviewed by the CAMPEP Graduate Education Program Review Committee (GEPRC) prior to application.
The OHSU Diagnostic Radiology Physics Residency participates in the MedPhys match and collects applications through the AAPM MP-RAP. Prospective candidates will be required to submit all necessary items to the AAPM MP-RAP for initial evaluation which includes, official college and graduate transcripts, a personal essay describing their career goals and interest in medical physics, three letters of recommendation from the applicant’s college/graduate instructors or employer, and a curriculum vitae. The MP-RAP application deadline for the program is December 6, 2024.
Once applications are reviewed by the program director and faculty, select candidates will be invited to initial video Webex interviews with two faculty members. Final interview rounds will consist of interviews with all program faculty and current residents, as well as, a presentation given by the prospective applicant. All first round interviews will be held virtually with a virtual option for second round as well.
For more information about our physics residency you can email the program.
Salary and benefits
All residents are provided with OHSU employee benefits as detailed on the OHSU Human Resources Site.
Imaging physics resident salaries change every year. For 2023-2024 the starting salary for residents that hold M.S. degrees was $68,191. The starting salary for residents that hold Ph.D. degrees was $72,646. Residents receive a 3% raise for the second year.
Academic statistics
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applicants | 1 | 27 | 16 | 29 | 28 |
| Offered admission | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Residents started | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Graduated | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Clinical positions | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Industry positions | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Academic positions | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Rotation schedule
| # | Rotation | Time Length (Months) | Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orientation & Professionalism | 1 | July |
| 2 | Clinical Radiology | Over 3 months | July - September |
| 3 | Dosimetry & Dose Tracking | 1 | August |
| 4 | Detection Systems & Mobile Radiography | 1 | September |
| 5 | Radiography | 1 | October |
| 6 | Fluoroscopy | 1 | November |
| 7 | Ultrasound | 1 | December |
| Short Oral Exam | December | ||
| 8 | Image Displays | 1 | January |
| 9 | Mammography | 2 | January - February |
| 10 | Interventional Radiology | 1.5 | February - March |
| 11 | CT | 2 | April - May |
| 12 | MRI & Advanced MRI | 2 | June - July |
| Oral Exam | July |
| # | Rotation | Time Length (Months) | Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remediation or Research | August | ||
| 13 | Shielding | 1 | September |
| 14 | Nuclear Medicine & PET | 2 | October - November |
| 15 | Informatics | 2 | November - December |
| 16 | Teaching & Career Development | Over 6 months | December - May |
| 17 | Radiation Safety & Theranostics | Over 4 months | March - June |
| Oral Exam | June |