This month, Linzee Phillips Hensley will start her first class in the Department of Nuclear Engineering’s accredited medical physics program. Thanks to the program’s unique design, however, she has already spent two months gaining hands-on clinical experience in radiation oncology with a clinical team at Tennova Healthcare.
The UT medical physics program trains a specialized category of physicists to operate equipment, such as the machines required for radiation therapy, nuclear medicine and medical imaging, that are necessary to examine, diagnose and treat patients.
“The program’s emphasis on clinical experience was one of the biggest factors in my choice to enroll,” said Hensley, who graduated earlier this year with a bachelor’s degree in applied physics from Morehead State University in Kentucky. “I’ve already gained valuable experience with the many responsibilities of a medical physicist that ensures radiation treatments are delivered safely and accurately.”
Medical physics students earn either a master’s degree or a graduate certificate—Hensley is pursuing the former. After graduating, all students need at least two years of clinical residency before entering practice.
“The challenge with any graduate program is students wanting as much clinical experience as they can get while still in school,” said Michael Howard, the program’s director as well as the VP of Oncology and Chief of Medical Physics for Tennova Healthcare. “From the beginning of our program in 2019, we intended to make that possible.”
Hensley’s experience this summer is just one example of how the program is delivering on that intention—and preparing students for success in a high-demand field.
The Vital Role of Medical Physics
“Medical physicists play a vital role in patient care, primarily behind the scenes,” Howard said. “For example, every person treated at a cancer center is connected to one. Ultimately, medical physicists are solely responsible for quality control of the machines, ensuring patients receive exactly the right dose of radiation in exactly the right place.”
Tennessee has a relatively high incidence of cancer. Before 2019, no public university offered a medical physics education, but there was an urgent need for one: a chronic, nationwide workforce shortage of qualified medical physicists was affecting Tennesseans’ access to care, especially in rural communities.
“Around 2018, the nuclear department made a strategic decision to invest in nuclear medicine as an opportunity for department growth.” said Brian Wirth, TVA Department Chair and UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering. “Subsequently, with the assistance of Drs. Howard and Ramsey we initiated the CAMPEP accredited master’s degree program in medical physics in 2019-2020. That program has now graduated more than 20 students and recently was re-accredited for another 5-years. The program’s success was instrumental in our ability to launch a broader research program in radiopharmaceuticals and nuclear chemistry/medicine, which just attracted a new UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair, Dr. Carolyn Anderson to our faculty.”
Establishing a Reputation for Real-World Experience
Hensley’s entering class of fourteen people is twice as large as the program’s first, which enrolled in 2020. This growth mirrors a corresponding expansion in students’ opportunities for local clinical experience.
“To provide a richer learning environment, we’ve created a balance between academic and clinical faculty,” Howard said. He described how students dive into complex, specialized knowledge with tenured university faculty while learning about real-world scenarios from practicing medical physicists.
From the start, Howard and department leaders actively developed relationships with all the Knoxville-area hospitals.
“These hospital systems are competitors, but we’ve built a collaborative environment in which their clinical medical physics teams work together to benefit our students,” he said. “Students get exposure to more practices, processes, and patient treatments.”
Residency directors have noticed.
“They’re letting us know our students are very attractive due to their clinical experience,” Howard said. “We’ve placed 100% of our graduates in residency.”
That’s a challenge when there are less than 200 residency openings across the U.S. but 400-something applicants.
“Knowing our students are sought after is a significant measure of success,” Howard said.
In fact, Knoxville hospitals have created new residency positions with the intention of keeping more UT graduates in the area. In 2020, there were only one to two positions offered by area hospitals. Howard set a goal to increase that number—and in 2026, there are now six local positions.
“UT’s excellent history of residency placement gave me confidence that the program prepares its students well,” Hensley said. “I knew Knoxville was a place where I could grow academically and professionally.”
A Rewarding Career Ahead
As the program’s sixth class begins this fall, Howard cited a personal success story: a student from the first class, who did her residency at Vanderbilt, is now a board-certified medical physicist working with him in Knoxville.
“Medical physics is so rewarding because you get to make a difference in people’s lives,” Howard said. “And now, it’s incredibly rewarding to see the results of what comes after the program for our students.”
Contact
Meghan McDonald ([email protected])