Australiasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

Elekta wins World Class Manufacturing Award

Stockholm, Sweden, December 29, 2009

Elekta, the world-leading manufacturer of treatment solutions for cancer and brain disorders, has been awarded the prestigious World Class Manufacturing award by The Manufacturer magazine. The World Class Manufacturing award was given in recognition of the quality work produced each year by Elekta manufacturing staff.

Elekta’s U.K. office began implementing Lean processes for manufacturing and product development in 2007, focusing on increasing efficiency, decreasing waste and adopting a culture of continuous improvement. Since then, it has reached significant productivity gains and reduced quality concerns, while at the same time manufacturing a superior product line. The company dramatically improved its delivery/lead times and quality efficiencies as well.

 
To read the full article please see http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_press_release_20070725.php 

AUSTRALIAN CT scans have been found to generate up to a third more radiation than necessary to yield a clear diagnostic image, needlessly exposing patients to an increased risk of cancer.

The findings have emerged amid concerns about the growth in referrals for CT scans and as radiation safety experts and radiologists prepare a national monitoring scheme to keep radiation doses to the minimum necessary.

Read the full article http://www.theage.com.au/national/radiation-too-high-in-ct-scans-says-study-20100407-rs6v.html

The ACPSEM Council met in Sydney for 2 days in early May to undergo corporate governance training and have their first face to face meeting of the year (most meetings are held by teleconference). Discussion items at the meeting included continuing efforts to gain government funding to support Diagnostic Imaging training programs, a membership (application) review process, an ongoing strategic plan, radiation shielding accreditation and a digital mammography course..... among many other business items. On the evening of the 2nd of May Council Directors, some NSW branch members, staff, and invited guests, gathered to officially open the ACPSEM's new Education Unit. Mr Abel MacDonald of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Division of Radiation Oncology, kindly explained to the guests the importance of his department's partnership with the ACPSEM in order to facilitate the improvement in public health services. Funding from this department has allowed ACPSEM to expand its education services and provide important staff support.

Are interested in Image Guidance? Is IGRT an acronym that gets you going? Do you think of radiotherapy when you hear CBCT?

Then you may be interested in the second ACPSEM summerschool on Image Guided Radiation Therapy to be held prior to this years EPSM conference in Melbourne on December 3 and 4, 2010. We will provide overview presentations on different technologies, discuss QA and applications and have planned to spend one afternoon in a hospital to do some hands on activities related to IGRT.
Places are strictly limited to maintain an interactive atmosphere. Medical physics registrars (of all disciplines) will be given priority but anyone interested in attending should register their interest NOW with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Maxine McKew, Federal Member for Bennelong “I recently inspected the new PET scanner at Royal North Shore Hospital with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. This scanner is a great boost for cancer treatment for our area, making a difference in diagnosis and patient treatment. Originally requested in 1997, the Rudd Government has delivered this important piece of medical technology. I am delighted that my interest in this project has helped produce results.”

Please see below is a letter from the Director of Radiation Oncology Section of the Department of Health and Ageing, Mr Abel MacDonald, regarding changes to the Medicare items for radiation oncology treatment verification from 1 May 2010.

Read the full article Changes to the Medicare items for radiation oncology treatment verification

APSIG is seeking Expressions of Interest (EoI) from ROMPs willing to mentor supervisors of residents (registrars) enrolled in the RCA/IAEA ROMP clinical training program in the Philippines. The workload should be quite minor with communication with the Philippine supervisors being by email.

If willing to participate then please forward your EoI by 7 May to Brian Thomas ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) indicating number of years of experience as a ROMP, current position, experience as a supervisor of TEAP registrars and any other TEAP involvement.

(23rd May, 2010)

Since our journal is now available online, it has also been added to the HINARI database. This database, set up by WHO together with major publishers, enables eligible developing countries to gain access to a large of biomedical and health literature. For further information, see

http://www.who.int/hinari/en/

For a list of eligible countries, see

http://www.who.int/hinari/eligibility/en/
(23rd April, 2010)

Cancer Australia established the Regional Multi-site Clinical Trials Capacity Building Network in 2009. The purpose of this initiative is to increase the capacity of regional centres to activate and recruit to trials conducted by the Multi-site Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups, and thereby increasing access to high-quality trials to patients in regional Australia.

Applications are now open for new regional centres to join the Regional Multi-site Clinical Trials Capacity Building Network in 2010.

Together with the Victorian Cancer Agency, Cancer Australia is calling for applications from regional centres to join this initiative. Funding will be available to provide the person support required for the conduct of, and recruitment to, cancer clinical trials nominated by the Multi-site Collaborative National Cancer Clinical Trials Groups.

More information can be found at: http://www.canceraustralia.gov.au/cancer-australia/research-and-clinical-trials/support-clinical-trials#6 

Kind regards

Janelle

Dr. Janelle Nunan
Program Manager
Research and Clinical Trials
Cancer Australia

ACPSEM is seeking member engagement to determine the wording, which will comprise the definition of a ACPSEM Clinical Medical Physicist.


Please provide your input within this process by articulating the wording, which best describes and represents the scope and the duties carried out by a clinical medical physicist.

To have your say go to our facebook discussion group.

We recently advertised for a volunteer radiation oncology medical physicist to support the centre's development and to provide training to treatment and technical staff. This post has not yet been filled, and is still available as a great opportunity for physicists of any level. See attached Expression of Interest for further details.

(2nd April, 2010)

The ARPANSA publication RPS14, Code of Practice for Radiation Protection in the Medical Applications of Ionizing Radiation (2008), usually referred to as the Medical Code, has been added to Schedule 11 of RPS6, the National Directory for Radiation Protection. All Codes and Standards referenced in Schedule 11 must be adopted within the regulatory framework of each State and Territory in Australia.

Edition 1 of the National Directory for Radiation Protection was developed by the Radiation Health Committee and published in August 2004. It was subsequently endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers' Conference (AHMC) as the uniform national framework for radiation protection in Australia.

Following publication of Edition 1, the Radiation Health Committee agreed that further progression of the Directory would be by individual amendments, and that the consolidated version of the Directory would be maintained as an electronic document via ARPANSA's website.  The current Directory includes the first three amendments since Edition 1, which were agreed by the Radiation Health Committee during 2008 and were endorsed by Ministers in December 2009.  

The current consolidated version is available for download at, http://www.arpansa.gov.au/Publications/codes/rps6.cfm as well as the individual amendments.

ACPSEM is committed to making it easier for its members to keep up to date with the latest announcements, education opportunities and job information. With this in mind ACPSEM can now be found on both Facebook and Twitter. This allows members to network with each other, share experiences on the discussion boards and upload photos and video. Please take a moment have a look at these new ways to stay connected and feel free to contribute to our online community.

Click here to join us on Facebook

Click here to follow us on Twitter

With the implementation of the Training Education Accreditation Program (TEAP) for newly employed medical physicists in radiotherapy and the on-going assessment for accreditation of existing staff, the number of candidates examined for accreditation has increased significantly. The Radiation Oncology Accreditation Panel (ROAP) is seeking to appoint as many as possible new trainee examiners over the next two years.

Further information on this call for expression of interest can be obtained through the following link; EOI ROAP Jan10

Held on the 10th November 2009 in Canberra, the ACPSEM AGM saw  50 keen members gather to hear the latest news of the College, which included the announcement of two new Fellows, one new Life member, and one member being given a Distinguished Service Award  for contributions to the College and to professions the College represents.

The current President, Tomas Kron, presented an ACPSEM Distinguished Service Award to Ian Smith, for his significant contribution to the College over many years, in the roles of Hon Treasurer, Membership Board member and Conference convenor.

Tomas also announced that Alun Beddoe had been awarded Life Membership of the ACPSEM.

The Hon Secretary, John Coles,  reported that the various prizes and awards offered by the College are now funded by the ACPSEM Foundation. The Boyce Worthley Young Achiever Award received no nominations during 2009. The Richard Bates Travel Scholarship and Award was awarded to Ben Khoo, who plans to further his studies into bone mineral density as derived from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanners.  The winner of the Kenneth Clarke (Journal) Award, for the best paper published in Vol 31,  was Sergei Zavgorodni for the paper “Application of the equivalent uniform stochastic dose (EUSD) to TCP calculations incorporating dose uncertainty and fractionation effects”.
A single Branch Travel Grant was awarded to Tom Grieg, Dept Medical Technology & Physics, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Perth.

The meeting attendees were also reminded that Natalka Suchowerska, Annette Haworth and Christian Langton had been awarded Fellow status during the year.

A complete copy of the AGM minutes can be accessed via the following link. AGM Minutes 2009

Tomas Kron finishes his term as President at the end of the year and his presentation to the meeting reflected on success over the past year as well as the number of new initiatives that are coming to fruition over the next few years.  For an insight to his thoughts please reference this PowerPoint  presentation AGM09 President's Report

For those attending the RANZCR/AIR/FRO/ACPSEM Combined Scientific Meeting next week (Brisbane, 22nd-25th October, 2009), don’t miss the session entitled, “Supporting Radiation Oncology in South East Asia” from 10:30-12:30 on Friday 23rd October. The program for the session is as follows:

Supporting Radiation Oncology in South East Asia: An Overview; Graeme Morgan
IAEA activities in the development of clinical medical physicist training for Radiation Oncology in South East Asia; Donald McLean
Educational and Clinical Training of Medical Physicists in Vietnam; Brian Thomas
ACPSEM Asia Pacific Special Interest Group; Tomas Kron and Catherine Lawford
Up and Running: Radiotherapy Commissioning in Lae, Papua New Guinea; Simon Downes
Supporting Radiotherapy in SE Asia – Training the Trainers; Mary Coffey
Supporting Radiation Oncology in South East Asia: Radiation Therapy Technologist (RTT) Training in Vietnam; Jennifer Cox
Back to the Future: Radiation Therapy in Papua New Guinea – A Radiation Therapists Prospective; Christopher Walsh
Distance Learning in the Applied Sciences of Oncology; Michael Barton
Discussion

 (15th October, 2009)

For those who missed it in late 2008, Tomas Kron et al. published a paper entitled, “Medical physics aspects of cancer care in the Asia Pacific Region”. The paper reports on a questionnaire sent out to 20 medical physics departments in the region, to determine the education, role and status of medical physicists in the Asia-Pacific region. The results provide useful data for workforce planning and training development for medical physicists in the region. The paper is published in a special focus issue of the freely available Biomedical Imaging and Intervention Journal, entitled “Frontiers of Cancer Care in Asia-Pacific Region”.

See T Kron et al. Biomed Imaging Interv J 2008; 4(3):e33

(16th August, 2009)

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome…

Welcome to the new webpage of the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine. It has been a long time coming and the process has highlighted the increasing complexity of our organization with branches, specialties, committees, TEAP, CPD, not to mention all the
databases of members, accreditations and registrations. There is a need for public access to some information and members access to more.

I would like to invite you to explore the page for yourself and please provide us with feedback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Nothing is perfect. The webpage ain’t cabaret, but hopefully will be informative, useful and possibly even a bit entertaining.

Many happy returns

Tomas Kron

President ACPSEM 

Support for People Living with Cancer

From July 1 2009people living with cancer in Australia will be better able to access a range of treatments, medicines and support. The Hon. Nicola Roxon MP, the Australian Minister for Health and Ageing, announced today that a new Medicare rebate was available for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. She also announce better access to the drug bevacizumab, new PET services and over $6 million (over three years) to support the training of radiation oncology medical physicist registrars. Medical physics is a specialised field and these professionals are responsible for the set up, maintenance and calibration of linear accelerators, the machines used to provide radiation treatment for cancer patients. One aspect of this funding is to enable the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) to provide oncology centres with education resources and conduct extra accreditation examinations. For more details see the full press release as follows: Support for People with Cancer full article (PDF)

It is with great pleasure that the ACPSEM Council announces that Associate Professor Natalka Suchowerska has been admitted as a Fellow of the College.  This makes Natalka the first female Fellow for the ACPSEM.  Well Done Natalka!

Natalka joined the College as an Associate Member in 1984 and has been an Ordinary Member since 2002.  She has been an Associate Professor in the School of Physics, University of Sydney since 2003.  Her contributions to the ACPSEM include NSW Branch Chair (1999-2001), ACPSEM Education Committee Chair (2001- 2003) and Chair of the Accreditation Working Party (1998-2001).

Ed Scull, ACPSEM member for more than 30 years and President from 1991 to 1993 has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the general division for service to biomedical engineering and associated professional associations.

Congratulations, Edward R Scull, OAM

ACPSEM branches are coordinating the collection of suitable medical physics and biomedical engineering text books for the University of Indonesia.  If anyone can help with unwanted, but still useful, text books then please contact your local branch or Brian Thomas at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  The ACPSEM office will assist with postal/freight  fees. See Textbooks request for more information.

(28th May, 2009)

Dear Members,

I am very pleased to announce that the following people have recently gained accreditation in Nuclear Medicine Physics.

Graeme O’Keefe , Dept Of Nuclear Medicine and Centre for PET, Austin Hospital VIC
Seu Seong Som, Dept of Nuclear Medicine and PET, Liverpool Hospital NSW
Chithradevi Sathiakuma, Dept of Nuclear Medicine and PET, Liverpool Hospital NSW

My congratulations to these three people and to the team behind the Nuclear Medicine Physics accreditation program for these achievements.

All the best,

Sean Geoghegan
________________________________________________________________
Sean Geoghegan, PhD                Chair Professional Standards Board
Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to inform members that the following candidate has been awarded with Accreditation in Radiotherapy Equipment Commissioning and Quality Assurance:

Mr Robert Chambers of the Medical Physics Dept, Cancer Care Centre, St George Hospital NSW.

I am also delighted to announce that the following candidates have passed their final examination requirements for Accreditation in Radiation Oncology Medical Physics:

Ms Alison Chapman of the Dept Radiation Oncology, Medical Physics, Andrew Love Cancer Centre, Victoria, and
Mr Michael Currie of the Dept Radiation Oncology, Medical Physics, Wollongong Hospital, NSW.

Congratulations to Robert Chambers, Alison Chapman and Michael Currie on their successes.
Sean Geoghegan
________________________________________________________________
Sean Geoghegan, PhD Chair Professional Standards Board
Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

This is what some shady fellows got up to at the EPSM-ABEC conference in Christchurch. Meetings, meetings, meetings... talking, networking and sharing professional issues with other members.

Please find attached an Expressions of Interest request for individuals to become a member of the Allied Health Clinical Placement Scholarship Scheme (AHCPSS) Assessment Panel and the Appeals Panel.

Dear Colleagues, I'd like to bring to your attention the following award which has recently been announced - The Roberts Prize For Best Paper In Physics In Medicine and Biology In 2007, Cellular response to modulated radiation fields: E. Claridge Mackonis, N. Suchowerska, M. Zhang, M. Ebert, D. R. McKenzie, M. Jackson

Dear colleagues, it is my very great pleasure to announce that the ACPSEM Professional Standards Board has awarded ACPSEM Accreditation in Radiation Oncology Medical Physics to: Mr Craig Norvill of the Department of Radiation Oncology, Prince of Wales Hospital, NSW

You may be aware that the ARC's journal ranking system is out in draft form (see www.arc.gov.au/era/indicators.htm ). This is part of the reseacrch quality exercise started by the previous government.

The top 5% of journals get A*
the next 10% get A
the next 30% get B
the next 50% get C  (and some journals to my surprise are not on the list)
APESM has been ranked at B. This is a good result.

Dear ACPSEM Members, ARPANSA has arranged for a replacement Co-60 therapy head to be installed in the last quarter of 2008. Consequently, radiotherapycalibrations will not be available until the new source has been installed and commissioned.

New radiology physics/RSO position

Bayside Health has created a new medical physics position based in the Alfred Hospital Radiology Department.  Congratulations Zoe Brady who started in the position in June.  She will also undertake the role of Radiation Safety Officer, or as it is has already been referred to ... Radiology Sporting Officer!  Let's hope to see more of these positions for radiology medical physicists created in the future.

Student presentation night

The Vic/Tas branch is holding a student presentation night on 21 September 2009.
Two $500 grants are up for grabs. Please circulate this information to any students (postgraduate or undergraduate, members or non-members, registrars or non-registrars) who might be interested.
Contact Luke Wilkinson at St Vincent's Hospital for more information

On Monday 17th March, 2008 the Branch ran its own version of the Australia 2020 Summit in a forum for physicists and engineers.  The evening was well attended, some members of the College of Biomedical Engineers joined us.  All of the invited speakers provided valuable insights and a lively discussion took place.