At VCU, we have developed a strong medical physics program. Our M.S. degree program is designed to ensure students receive the proper didactic and clinical training so that they will be suited to work as clinical medical physicists. Our Ph.D. degree program is designed to establish the researchers of tommorrow in medical physics. Although our graduate program officially matriculated its first students in the fall of 2004, the Medical Physics Division has been active in teaching, clinical service, and research roles at VCU since the early 1970s.

The medical physics graduate program is a joint cooperative effort between the Department of Physics, Department of Radiology and Department of Radiation Oncology at VCU, specifically, the divisions of Radiation Physics within the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Radiology.

The Division of Radiation Physics in Radiation Oncology maintains nationally recognized, funded, research programs in external-beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and imaging physics. In addition, the Department of Radiation Oncology supports a large program in molecular radiation biology and translational research, including gene therapy. Faculty from the Radiation Physics and Clinical Divisions have collaborated to implement a nationally recognized program in IMRT planning and delivery program which supports intramural protocols in head and neck, prostate and gynecological cancers.

The Division of Radiation Physics and Biology within Radiology provides clinical support to Nuclear Medicine and diagnostic imaging and maintains a funded research program in the general areas of neuroimaging, vascular MRI, and PET imaging. VCU houses a modern Molecular Imaging Center which supports clinical and investigational PET (positron emission tomography imaging), a medical cyclotron, PET imaging of experimental animals, and a state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging system with 3.0 Tesla high-strength magnetic fields.

Prior to establishing the medical physics graduate program, medical physics training at VCU was conducted via collaborative programs with the Department of Physiology and Department of Biomedical Engineering. Five Ph.D. and 18 master's level students from affiliated programs performed significant components of their research training under the supervision of medical physics faculty.