Special Interest Groups

EFOMP “ Early Career Medical Physicists ”.

The young medical physicists (MP) of today will be the national medical physics and European medical physics professional and leaders of tomorrow. If the profession is to be developed and become stronger in a rapidly evolving environment, education and training of the young medical physicists is vital so that they may develop into the effective and robust scientific and strategic leaders that the profession needs in the future. Young medical physicists need to learn how to act in a coordinated manner at both national and European levels. To achieve this goal, a strong, flexible, and dynamic link is needed between academic education and professional training, across all countries. 

A SIG will provide opportunities for our young medical physicists to develop not only their substantive scientific and research skills but also their soft skills, as scientific competence on its own does not ensure success in today’s demanding hospital environment. Skills such as strategic planning, marketing, good communication and pedagogical skills, proficiencies in qualitative research methodology as well as skills in conflict resolution, organizational politics, negotiation, and teambuilding are also needed.

A Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis of the Medical Physics profession indicates that most of the weaknesses of the profession lie precisely in the area of soft skills. If the profession is to thrive it is important that any plans for its further development also incorporate strategies for addressing these critical weaknesses amongst our young physicists.

The SIG is a permanent structure. SIG members participate in the different working groups via a specific mail list. The SIG for early career for Medical Physicists was officially created in December 2022. The kick-off meeting was held on the 9th of December 2022.

All EFOMP members can individually apply to be a member of this SIG electronically using the attached SIG member application form. NMOs can also nominate representatives. A professional CV is required.
Applications can be sent anytime to: eucommittee@efomp.org (cc to secretary@efomp.org)

Application form

The Steering Committe and Board members will be elected in January 2023.

Initial call

EFOMP “Radionuclide Internal Dosimetry”.

Therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine are developing rapidly. They use a growing range of radiolabeled vectors (simple vector molecules, peptides, antibodies) and medical devices (radioactive microspheres). Various radioactive nuclides (beta, but also alpha or Auger) are also considered. Due to this variety, the characterisation of the irradiation delivered to the patient is at the same time stimulating and challenging. Yet, reliable absorbed dose calculations are now available thanks to technological and scientific developments of the last decades.

An increasing number of patients will benefit from treatment with radiotherapeutics, since therapeutic agents recently developed or in early phase trials are able to treat more common cancers, including liver colorectal metastases or prostate cancer. However, the role of patient- specific dosimetry in therapeutic nuclear medicine is still, astonishingly, a matter of discussion, despite regulations: treatment planning and/or verification of the irradiation delivered during nuclear medicine therapy are seldom performed in clinical practice, even though they correspond to a legal requirement (Basic Safety Standard Council Directive EURATOM 2013/59).

The role of the medical physics expert (MPE) in nuclear medicine dosimetry was presented in EFOMP Policy Statement 16. However, the availability of physicists able to implement clinical dosimetry is still severely limited. Furthermore, the important shortage in medical physics resources within the European Union is more pronounced in nuclear medicine dosimetry.

The objective of the Special Interest Group for Radionuclide Internal Dosimetry (SIG_FRID) is to establish a network of medical physicists working in radionuclide dosimetry. The SIG aims to fulfil the need for networking, education, research and professional exchanges in this field.

The SIG for radionuclide internal dosimetry was officially created in February 2021. The kickoff meeting took place on March 8th. The SIG_FRID is a permanent structure (renewal has to be asked to the EFOMP Board every 3 years by the SIG_FRID parent committee).

SIG members participate in different working groups via a specific mail list.

The priority list (revised in December 2022) includes:

  1. Organisation of scientific meetings

    • Scientific meetings on dosimetry-related topics (4/year)

    • Clinical dosimetry case reports (4/year)

  2. Management of SIG WorkGroups. Currently 5 WGs are operational:

    • WG0 - EU Survey on the practice of clinical dosimetry

    • WG1 - Time-Activity Data Fitting

    • WG2 - Treatment Planning Software benchmarking

    • WG3 - Absorbed Dose Effect Relationships

    • WG4 - Voxel S Value generation and benchmarking

  3. Teaching/Education/Dissemination

    • Creation of webinars

    • Contribute to ECMP educational programme

    • Generation of a dosimetry resource database

    • Contribution to the revised Core Curriculum in collaboration with the EANM 

  4. Communication 

    • Publication of an internal monthly newsletter

    • Contribution to the quarterly EMP News 

  5. Professional/Regulatory/Economic matters

    • Participation to SimpleRad

    • Contribution to the forthcoming PS19

In addition, the SIG_FRID is proud to announce the first Symposium on Molecular Radiotherapy Dosimetry: The future of theragnostics, in Athens on Nov 9th-11th 2023. Registration and abstract submission is now open.

SIG_FRID Application Procedure

The current (Feb 2023) number of members is 155 and still growing!

EFOMP members (members of their NMO or Individual Associate Members) can apply to be a member of the SIG_FRID, using the member application form. 

Corporate members are accepted. NMOs can also nominate representatives. A short professional CV is required for every application.

Applications can be sent anytime to: board.sig_frid@efomp.org

 

The Steering Committee members elected during the kick-off meeting for a 3-year term  are:

 Board

Initial Call