Case studies: Clinical scientist, radiotherapy physics: Jonathan Littler

Jonathan graduated with an MPhys degree from the University of York. He went on to undertake an MSc in Medical Physics at the University of Leeds as part of the training to become a medical physicist. He currently works at Nottingham University Hospitals as a clinical scientist, specialising in radiotherapy physics.

In the final year of my degree, I applied for the medical physics training scheme. This was a national scheme, where you choose several NHS trusts to apply to. My degree was pretty much necessary, although people who worked as radiographers or technicians in a medical physics department could apply. I was lucky enough to get a four-year training post at Leicester. About halfway through my training, I applied for a permanent position in Nottingham, where I am now.

A typical day for me might involve an early start to perform dosimetry checks on a linear accelerator (linac) treatment machine. This involves testing to ensure the radiation delivered is as we’d expect. Much of my time will be spent in treatment planning, developing and checking patient plans, essentially deciding how to treat each patient. This involves working closely with doctors, as they have ultimate responsibility for the patients.

I tend to have a few projects or areas of development that I’ll work on whenever I can. For example, the department is developing a new technique for treating lung tumours involving 4D imaging, and I’m also working with the university’s biology department on a research project around a model of radiation-induced lung damage.

Now I’m fully qualified, I’m taking on more responsibility and starting to have an impact on how the department works and the techniques we develop to improve patient treatments. You tend to specialise further as you progress in the career, becoming a specialist in a section (such as planning, dosimetry or imaging), head of section and perhaps ultimately head of department. I would like to work my way up. I might consider a part-time PhD in the future too, but as I’ve just finished one set of exams, I might leave it a while!

The level of responsibility can be quite intimidating if you’re not prepared for it. Physicists generally have responsibility for the safe running of the treatment machines and ensuring mistakes are not made with a patient’s treatment during planning. Also, it can be hard to keep up with research projects when there’s always pressure to do the routine work that keeps the department running.

It’s a great time to work in medical physics, especially radiotherapy. Investment over the last few years means there’s always something new happening. It’s also nice to be at the point where scientific research, perhaps even something your department has developed, is applied practically. Of course, I also get the satisfaction of knowing that my job has a positive impact on the world. I help fight cancer.

I’d advise anyone who wants to get on the training scheme to show an interest, read up on the subject, get a day or two of work experience - anything to help your application stand out from the rest.