Welcome to Medical Physics / Bioengeering
Medical physics is the application of physics to medicine. It generally concerns physics as applied to diagnostic techniques such as medical imaging and physiological measurement and advanced therapeutics such as radiation and laser therapy. Medical physicists may also work in many other areas of healthcare. A medical physics department may be based in either a hospital or a university and its work is likely to include research, technical development, and clinical healthcare.
Clinical engineering (also referred to as ‘Bioengineering’ or ‘Biomedical Engineering”) is a specialty responsible for applying engineering technology to the support and development of the health services. The focus of Clinical Engineering is on the management and safety of electromedical devices used in hospital settings.
Medical physics / clinical engineering activities include clinical support, research, technical development, education and regulatory elements.
Medical Physics and Bioengineering at Trinity College Dublin represents the combined activities in Research and Education in these areas across three sites. The associated academics are all active Medical Physicists / Clinical Engineers with full time or part-time commitments to the teaching and associated hospitals of Trinity College Dublin (St. James’s, Tallaght University and St. Lukes’s Hospitals).
Medical Physics / Clinical Engineering does not deliver any specific undergraduate programme. However the academic staff contributes to the delivery of many modules and courses within existing undergraduate programmes in a number of third level institutions. These courses normally relate to Radiation Physics, Medical Imaging, Non-ionising Radiation, Radiation Therapy, Mechanical Engineering and Physiological Measurement.
Research, development and innovation has grown primarily from members’ activities at the clinical, technical and scientific interfaces in the medical environment. Approximately fifteen successful PhD students have been supervised either directly or in collaboration with other departments.
Academics have been involved in a series of collaborations with many industrial, international and public service bodies. Opportunities exist to expand the research in line with the associated hospitals’ objectives / strategies and to co-operate with other departments and institutions to align activities along a translational axis from basic research through to clinical application.
The primary research strands within the department include
- Radiation Protection
- Diagnostic Radiology
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Technology for older people
- Radiation Therapy
- Non-Ionising Radiation Protection
- Device Development and Assessment
- Performance Improvement in Equipment Management
- Process Improvement in Medical Physics & Clinical engineering
- Physiology Measurement in the Gastrointestinal Tract
- Technology Transfer and Innovation in Medical Devices
- Biomechanics of Soft Tissues