General information on the Ph.D. Program

The Medical Physics Unit (MPU) offers a Ph.D. program in medical physics to its own M.Sc. graduates who excel in their M.Sc. studies and to students entering McGill with a M.Sc. degree in medical physics from another institution with an accredited M.Sc. programs in medical physics.

The relatively small size of the MPU and the heavy clinical commitments of its staff can allow only a relatively small effort toward a Ph.D. program in medical physics, and this in collaboration with some other related major department at McGill University. The McGill Physics Department, with its excellent reputation in physics and some 138 graduate students and 70 staff members, seems the best candidate for this collaborative effort. The administration of the Physics Department and its academic staff strongly support the joint venture in medical physics between the Physics Department and the MPU. The Ph.D. graduate in medical physics at McGill University thus receives a Ph.D. from the Physics Department with a subspecialty in medical physics.

The MPU and the Physics Department have, and for several years have had, the following agreement regarding the Ph.D. program in medical physics:
  1. To be accepted into the Ph.D. program in medical physics the student should possess an M.Sc. degree in medical physics from an institution with an accredited M.Sc. program in medical physics.

  2. Ph.D. students in medical physics are officially registered in the Physics Department and must fulfill the criteria of the Physics Department in order to graduate with a Ph.D. degree. This includes all course requirements by the Physics Department as well as the preliminary examination in physics.

  3. The preliminary examination in physics is a traditional, written examination, usually taken at the beginning of a graduate student's Ph.D. study, covering all areas of basic and modern physics including classical mechanics, electromagnetic theory, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics. Copies of old examinations are available from the Physics department office to help potential students to assess the level of physics knowledge expected from Ph.D. students.

  4. Whenever the written preliminary examination in the Physics department is taken by a medical physics student in addition to regular physics students, one long and one short optional question in medical physics form part of the examination, in addition to short and long questions on traditional sub-specialties of physics.

  5. The Ph.D. students in medical physics work on their Ph.D. thesis research under the auspices of the MPU and under the supervision of an MPU staff member whose credentials must be acceptable to the Physics department. The thesis research is done in one of the two hospital-based MPU divisions: clinical or imaging.

During the past 28 years, 29 students have received Ph.D. degrees in medical physics at McGill, 25 in collaboration between the MPU and the Physics department, two in collaboration between the MPU and the Electrical Engineering department, one through an Ad-Hoc program between the MPU and the Neurology department, and one through an ad-hoc program between the MPU and the Biomedical Engineering Department. During the past 15 years, 24 Ph.D. degrees in medical physics were channeled through the Physics department and 1 Ph.D. degree through the Electrical Engineering department.

The current number of Ph.D. students in medical physics stands at 4. A listing of the 29 graduates with their thesis titles and current employment is provided here; a listing of the current 4 Ph.D. students with their undergraduate and previous graduate degrees is given here.