MEDICAL PHYSICIST- DIAGNOSTIC PHYSICS

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. 

The Department of Radiology has an outstanding opportunity for a Full-Time Medical Physicist to join the Diagnostic Physics Section at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA with an anticipated start date of March 1, 2023.

We are seeking a team-oriented individual with a commitment to excellence in clinical service and education to join our interdisciplinary faculty and staff at this top-ranked Department of Radiology. The ideal candidate will have broad routine clinical diagnostic physics experience, along with some experience in data analytics and artificial intelligence applications to improve efficiency and accuracy in radiology and medical physics-oriented workflows.

The Department of Radiology in the School of Medicine at the University of Washington is a top-10 academic radiology department in North America and research funding is consistently in the top 15 of radiology departments in NIH funding.  Imaging sciences are an essential and integral part of the departmental framework.  The Department has over 120 faculty that support 10 academic/clinical sections, and multiple research groups.  It has highly-ranked medical resident and fellowship teaching programs.

The University of Washington is the nation’s top public educational and research institution.  The School of Medicine has been ranked second in the world, among the top two recipients of federal research grants.  Our hospitals consistently rank highly at a state level and nationally, as does the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.  The UW Department of Radiology is internationally recognized as dynamic, progressive, and high impact in the field of Diagnostic Imaging.  Our academic enterprise complements the clinical, teaching and research activities of one of the nation's leading healthcare delivery enterprises.

Seattle is a cosmopolitan city set in a dramatic backdrop of water, forests, and mountains.  It is famous for its vibrant downtown neighborhoods and many cultural strengths – consistently ranked among the top urban areas for quality of life.  Our staff enjoy outstanding benefits, strong support for professional growth, and environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, and artistic pursuits.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities (Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs.)
This position in the Diagnostic Physics Section (DPS) includes clinical testing responsibilities at UW Medicine sites of practice, including the UW Medical Center (UWMC)-Montlake, UWMC-Northwest, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Fred Hutch Cancer Center. State-of-the-art digital imaging modalities, including radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, interventional radiology, multi-detector CT, MR, US and PACS are in place throughout the enterprise. The mission of the DPS is to ensure that patient images are of optimal diagnostic quality at appropriate radiation dose, maintain compliance with all regulating and certifying agency requirements, to assist physicians in making informed clinical decisions, and to provide education on physics principles that drive image quality and safety. The DPS consists of 5 physicists (2 faculty, 3 staff) and 1 medical physics assistant.

Responsibilities are shown below. Effort shown below are approximate and vary depending on the workload.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) programs – 70 %
• Participate in quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) programs for radiological imaging modalities utilizing ionizing radiation and to support American College of Radiology (ACR) modality accreditation efforts.
• Facilitate medical centers compliance with all certifying agencies for radiological imaging utilizing ionizing radiation. This includes but is not limited to TJC and the State of Washington.
• Collaborative engagement with stakeholders and vendors is part of this position. Interface with technologists, radiologists, other staff, and maintenance operations (in-house biomedical engineers and vendor service representatives), including dosimetry and image quality measurements of equipment after major changes in the imaging chain to ensure that radiological imaging equipment is working within normal parameters.
• Participate in clinical operations meetings for the different modalities as appropriate.
• Develop skills in artificial intelligence to help serve the department with AI QA related matters.

Dosimetry and Protocol optimization – 10%
• Work with radiologists/physicians and technologists in the development of new imaging procedures and optimizing imaging techniques or on trouble shooting any technical issues that arise.
• Measurement of patient radiation dosimetry, comparison of these dosimetry measurements to published surveys for similar examinations, and calculation of specific organ dosimetry (or fetal dose) for diagnostic radiographic examinations across all modalities.

Education and Research - 20%
• Be involved in teaching radiology residents and other UW students and staff/faculty.
• Provide residents and attending faculty in-service education on radiation safety practices and policies.
• We will start our imaging physics residency in July 2023, so involvement with the residency will be required.
• Participate in on-going clinical research as appropriate.

Self/Team Development
• Participate in fostering a collaborative environment with diversity as a core value. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working environment for all students, staff, and faculty.
• The incumbent is expected to continue to grow their own skill set necessary in their position, contribute to a team atmosphere in working with all internal/external customers, and provide thoughtful suggestions for continued improvement in work processes.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
• M.S. in Medical physics or related sciences
• ABR board certification
• 5 years of post-graduate diagnostic medial physics experience in all imaging modalities preferred

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
• Data analytics and AI experience preferred
• Proficiency with PC personal productivity tools including email, word processing, and spreadsheets.
• Proven communication, planning, interpersonal, and analytical skills

Mission and Values:

Mission:  To meet the clinical needs of patients and families we serve, to train the practitioners and leaders of tomorrow, and to advance imaging sciences to improve the human condition.

Values:
• Quality
• Innovation & Impact
• Leadership
• Partnership
• Fairness

Additional Information:

Internal/External Contacts:
• UW Customers
• Department of Radiology Faculty, Staff, and Students
• Diagnostics Physics Section Staff, Faculty and Students
• Other related Faculty, Staff, and Students

Supervision:
This position reports to Dr. Kalpana Kanal, Section Chief of Diagnostics Physics  in the Radiology Department.

Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to speak or hear. The employee frequently is required to sit; use hands to write, finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. The employee may occasionally lift and/or carry up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment:
• Schedule is normally 8a to 5p, M-F, but is not always fixed and workload does vary and sometime weekend coverage may be needed but that is rare. The incumbent¹s first responsibility is to complete tasks rather than keep to a fixed schedule.  Flexibility in schedule and intensity of work is necessary.
• Position is suitable/eligible for a hybrid schedule.
• Travel between sites will be necessary by UW Health Services or other shuttles or private vehicle

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.