The Medical Physics Group is an academic unit within Universiti Malaya's Faculty of Medicine and a division within Department of Biomedical Imaging. The activities of the group encompass Medical Physics education, research and clinical services hosted at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, particularly in the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Department of Clinical Oncology. This mixed clinical and academic setup provides a better environment to benefit healthcare service and enhance students’ perception of their learning experiences.
Learn more about what we do, check out the Breakfast@UMHealth (Ep.13 | 2021): Medical Physics: From Curie to Cure- A Synergistic Effect.
It is a branch of applied physics, pursued by medical physicists, who use physics principles, methods and techniques in practice, in the clinical environment and in research, for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with the specific goal of improving human health and well-being
It is an area of specialties involving the use of ionizing radiation in medical exposure such as radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, and radiation protection in medicine.
Medical physicist is a professional healthcare personnel. She/he may specialized in one or more medical physics area such as diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and radiation protection.
By applying physics principles, methods and techniques, a medical physicist carries out duties such as quality assurance, radiation doses and risks to patients and personnel's assessment, optimization of procedures, and education or training of health care professionals.
To know more about the roles and responsibilities of a medical physicists, refer to IAEA Human Health Series Publication No. 25.
Master of Medical Physics programme was started in Universiti Malaya in 1998. It is a fully coursework programme under the Faculty of Medicine. In order to achieve a higher benchmarking in international level, Universiti Malaya had applied to Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), United Kingdom for accreditation of the Master Programme.
In 2004, two IPEM assessors, namely Professor Tony Evans and Professor Alun Beddoe visited the University to carry out the accreditation process. Interviews with teaching staff and students, inspection of training facilities, laboratories and libraries, and inspection of examination questions and answer scripts were carried out.
Although there was a shortage of experienced teaching staff, but the assessors were satisfied with the standard of the programme. The application of accreditation was successful, and a 5 year recognition (2002-2007) was obtained. In 2008, the programme was successful in securing the reaccreditation until 2012. In 2013, the programme was granted an extension of the accreditation until August 2015. The programme were successful in securing further reaccreditation until the 2024 academic year. The status of the IPEM accreditation are available at IPEM website.
|
Year |
Milestones |
|
1997 |
Set up of the M. Medical Physics program, University of Malaya |
|
1998 |
1st intake of students (4 students) |
|
2002 |
1st curriculum review & JPA accreditation for program |
|
2004 |
Obtained IPEM accreditation (valid from 2002 – 2007) |
|
2005 |
2nd curriculum review |
|
2007 |
IPEM reaccreditation (valid from 2007 – Aug 2013) |
|
2010 |
3rd curriculum review (MQA compliant) |
|
2013 |
Extension of IPEM accreditation (valid from 2013 – Aug 2015) |
|
2015 |
4th curriculum review |
|
2016 |
IPEM reaccreditation (valid from 2016, extended to 2020) |
|
2018 |
5th curriculum review |
|
2020 |
IPEM reaccreditation (valid until session 2024 academic year) |
|
2023 |
6th curriculum review |
89% of our students are Malaysian.
The international students were from Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Vietnam.
The Medical Physics Book Prize was given to the student with best academic achievement every year.
| Year | Recipients |
| 2012 | Jong Wei Loong |
| 2013 | Ting Huong Eng |
| 2014 | Yong Jie See |
| 2015 | Leong Yen Ling |
| 2016 | Cheah Ying Ying |
| 2017 | Lee Kuan Ming |
| 2018 | Hoang Anh Tung |
| 2019 | Yeap Chuey Fen |
| 2020 | Najlaa Farhanah Binti Mohd Afndi |
| 2021 | Nishta Letchumanan |
| 2022 | Ng Wei Ling |
| 2023 | Sakuntala Jagabattuni |
| 2024 | Koo Jia Chun |
The IPEM Award was award for best research project.
| Year | Recipients |
| 2012 | Sim Gek Suan |
| 2013 | Norhayati Abdullah |
| 2014 | Yong Jie See |
| 2015 | Woon Yea Lee |
| 2016 | Cheng Chun Shing (Samuel) |
| 2017 | Umi Nabilah bt. Ismail |
| 2018 | Lee Dong Leng (Eric) |
| 2019 | Nur Khairah Bahirah Safian |
| 2020 | Nur Farahiyah Binti Zulkaffli |
| 2021 | Nishta Letchumanan |
| 2022 | Ng Wei Ling |
| 2023 | Nadia Mohd Sharom |
| 2024 | Leow Hui Qing |
• Professor Dr. Larry A. DeWerd, PhD, FAAPM (1998 Nov-2000 May)
Professor and Director, Radiation Calibration Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
• Professor Dr. Gary D. Fullerton, PhD, FAAPM, FACR, FISMRM, DABR (2000 Nov-2002 May)
Professor and Chief, Radiological Sciences Division, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, USA
• Professor Dr. William R. Hendee, PhD, FAAPM, DABR, DABHP (2002 Nov, 2003 Nov)
Professor and Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA
• Dr. Timothy Van Doorn, PhD (2003 May)
Associate Professor, University of Adelaide
Chief Physicist, Department of Medical Physics, Royal Adelaide Hospital, AUSTRALIA
• Dr. David J. Dowsett, PhD (2004)
Lecturer, University College Dublin
Director, Medical Physics Consultants, Dublin, IRELAND
• Dr. Roger M. Harrison, PhD, CPhys, CSci, FIPEM, FInstP (2004-2006)
Lecturer, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Head, Radiation Physics Section, Newcastle General Hospital, UNITED KINGDOM
• Dr. David Sutton, PhD, CSci, MSRP, FIPEM, FBIR (2006 Nov - 2008 May)
Hon. Lecturer, Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee UNITED KINGDOM
• Professor Dr. Alan C. Perkins, PhD, CSci, FIPEM (2008 Nov -2010 May)
Professor, Academic Medical Physics, Medical School, University of Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM
• Dr. Roger M. Harrison, PhD, CPhys, CSci, FIPEM, FInstP (2010-2011)
Lecturer, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Head, Radiation Physics Section, Newcastle General Hospital, UNITED KINGDOM
• Professor Dr. David Lurie, PhD, CPhys, FInstP, CSci, FIPEM (2011-2014)
Chair in Biomed Physics & Bio Eng, Bio-Medical Physics, School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, UNITED KINGDOM
• Professor Dr. Peter Metcalfe, PhD. (2014-2015)
Professor, Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, School of Physics, University of Wollongong, AUSTRALIA
• Professor Dr. Alan C. Perkins, PhD, CSci, FIPEM (External Assessor 2015-2019)
Professor, Academic Medical Physics, Medical School, University of Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM
• Professor Dr. David Lurie, PhD, CPhys, FInstP, CSci, FIPEM (External Assessor 2015-2019)
Chair in Biomed Physics & Bio Eng, Bio-Medical Physics, School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, UNITED KINGDOM
• Professor Dr. John Damilakis, PhD (External Assessor 2015-2019)
Full Professor and Chairman, Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Iraklion, Crete, GREECE
• Professor Dr. Eva Bezak, PhD, FACPSEM (2016-17)
Professor, Sansom Institute for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
• Professor Dr. Peter Metcalfe (2017-18)
Professor, School of Physics, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA
• Professor Dr. Eva Bezak, PhD, FACPSEM (2018-19)
Professor, Sansom Institute for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
• Professor Dr. Michael Lerch, PhD (External Assessor 2020-2024)
Deputy Director, Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong
Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Wollongong, AUSTRALIA
• Professor Dr. Peter Morris, PhD (External Assessor 2020-2024)
Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, The University of Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM
• Professor Dr. Paul Keall, PhD (2022-2024)
Professor, Director of the Image X Institute, Sydney School of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Updated on 27.03.2024