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Lorna Tu
I attended UBC for my BSc and found the physics department to be very efficient and supportive. I had also recently returned from a long internship abroad and wanted to stay closer to home (and its mountains!) for a little bit longer.
Medical physicists are health care professionals with specialized training in the medical applications of physics. Their work often involves the use of x-rays and accelerated charged particles, radioactive substances, ultrasound, magnetic and electric fields, infra-red and ultraviolet light, heat and lasers in diagnosis and therapy. Most medical physicists work in hospital diagnostic imaging departments, cancer treatment facilities, or hospital-based research establishments. Others work in universities, government, and industry.
Graduates of the Ph.D. in Medical Physics program will:
The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC). The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements. Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:
Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements. Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.
Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application.
Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:
Overall score requirement: 90
Reading
22
Writing
21
Speaking
21
Listening
22
Overall score requirement: 6.5
Reading
6.0
Writing
6.0
Speaking
6.0
Listening
6.0
Some programs require additional test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Test (GMAT). The requirements for this program are:
The GRE is not required.
Deadline to submit online application. No changes can be made to the application after submission.
Transcript DeadlineDeadline to upload scans of official transcripts through the applicant portal in support of a submitted application. Information for accessing the applicant portal will be provided after submitting an online application for admission.
Referee DeadlineDeadline for the referees identified in the application for admission to submit references. See Letters of Reference for more information.
All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.
A minimum of three references are required for application to graduate programs at UBC. References should be requested from individuals who are prepared to provide a report on your academic ability and qualifications.
Many programs require a statement of interest, sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
Permanent Residents of Canada must provide a clear photocopy of both sides of the Permanent Resident card.
All applicants must complete an online application form and pay the application fee to be considered for admission to UBC.
Fees | Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat | International |
---|---|---|
Application Fee | $114.00 | $168.25 |
Tuition * | ||
Installments per year | 3 | 3 |
Tuition per installment | $1,838.57 | $3,230.06 |
Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%) | $5,515.71 | $9,690.18 |
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) | $3,200.00 (-) | |
Other Fees and Costs | ||
Student Fees (yearly) | $1,116.60 (approx.) | |
Costs of living | Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies. |
Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.
From September 2024 all full-time students in UBC-Vancouver PhD programs will be provided with a funding package of at least $24,000 for each of the first four years of their PhD. The funding package may consist of any combination of internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, and graduate academic assistantships. Please note that many graduate programs provide funding packages that are substantially greater than $24,000 per year. Please check with your prospective graduate program for specific details of the funding provided to its PhD students.
All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.
Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.
Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.
Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.
Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.
All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.
Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.
The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.
International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week.
A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.
Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.
Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.
Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.
Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.
Graduates will be equipped to pursue careers in hospitals, specialized areas of medicine (e.g. cancer treatment and research and brain research), government, industry and other medical research environments. Their work is interdisciplinary in nature and in many cases, translates to innovative solutions to real world medical problems relating to diagnosis and treatment of many disease types from cancer to brain and cardiac research.
Many of our medical physics faculty hold associate or adjunct professor status in the Department of Physics and Astronomy but have primary appointments in Departments of the Faculty of Medicine (Radiology, Surgery, Oncology) or work at the BC Cancer Agency Treatment or Research Centres.
In BC alone, population growth and replacement of retirements requires about 5 new radiotherapy physicists each year. Growing demand for advanced medical imaging (CT, MRI, PET) creates a similar requirement for imaging physicists.
These statistics show data for the Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physics (PhD). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Applications | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 3 |
Offers | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
New Registrations | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Total Enrolment | 14 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 1 |
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.
This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.
Year | Citation |
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2024 | Dr. Koniar developed and validated novel methods for assessing the in vivo biodistribution and dosimetry of actinium radiopharmaceuticals for targeted alpha therapy. Her research contributions will assist in the optimization of theranostic agents to deliver personalized cancer care in patients with widespread metastatic disease. |
2024 | Dr. Poon's research focused on heart motion management in radiation therapy for irregular heartbeats. He quantified regional heart motion and investigated a technique to synchronize radiation delivery with the cardiac cycle, with the goal of improving treatment outcomes by reducing the treated volume and minimizing radiation to healthy tissue. |
2024 | Dr. Rostamzadeh's Markerless Dynamic Tumor Tracking method revolutionizes cancer treatment, utilizing the lung-liver interface for precise radiation targeting, reducing side effects, and providing hope to liver and lung cancer patients. |
Required core courses of the Medical Physics program include Quantum Mechanics I (PHYS 500), Radiotherapy Physics I (PHYS 534), Radiotherapy Physics II (PHYS 535), Advanced Radiation Biophysics (PHYS 536), Radiation Dosimetry (PHYS 539), Image Reconstruction (PHYS 540), and Anatomy, Physiology and Statistics for Medical Physicists (PHYS 545) and Clinical Experience in Medical Physics (PHYS 546). There is one elective which should be chosen from Nuclear Medicine (PHYS 541), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (PHYS 542), and Biomedical Optics (PHYS 543).
Departments/Programs may update graduate degree program details through the Faculty & Staff portal. To update contact details for application inquiries, please use this form.
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