Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visits Royal North Shore Hospital
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.”
Changes to the Medicare items for radiation oncology treatment verification
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.
Call for Volunteers: Mentoring of Philippine Supervisors of ROMP Residents.
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 (
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) 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)
APESM journal now available through HINARI
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
the Regional Multi-site Clinical Trials Capacity Building Network
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.
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.
As you may be aware, the Lae Cancer Centre, Papua New Guinea reopened in May 2009 and has been supported by physicists and radiation therapists from Australia. A report has been written updating the situation at the centre. Itcan be found at www.acpsem.org.au (Home>Governance>Asia Pacific>Documents). You need to be logged in to download this document.
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 Medical Code is now part of the National Directory for Radiation Protection (NDRP) December 2009
TheARPANSA 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.
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.
Supporting Radiation Oncology in South East Asia: Session at CSM2009
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)
Medical physics aspects of cancer care in the Asia Pacific Region
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”.
In response to the release of the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission final report - A healthier future for all Australians, the Department has set up a new website -- yourHealth.gov.au to further inform the public and key stakeholders and to seek feedback and comment on the report and the consultation process.
We encourage you to visit the site www.yourHealth.gov.au
Welcome from the President
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
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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
Health Minister's Media Release
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)
First Female College Fellow
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).
OAM for Biomedical Engineer
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
Textbooks for the University of Indonesia
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
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. The ACPSEM office will assist with postal/freight fees. See Textbooks request for more information.
(28th May, 2009)
Recent Nuclear Medicine Accreditations
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
Medical Devices Regulation
It is recommended all members of the ACPSEM consider the impact of following consultation documents. Initial advice indicates they will change the way in which medical devices are innovated, developed and regulated.
You may like to provide an individual response or submit a response to the College for incorporation into a combined College response. If members wish to confer with Phillip Bones (Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Specialty group) about this his best email is
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The deadlines are March 27th and March 31st, 2009 respectively for responses to be in for the two consultation documents. If you miss these deadlines it still may be worthwhile monitoring the website for outcomes down the track after the various aubmissions are considered. The following two websites contain the two consultation documents.
http://www.tga.gov.au/devices/drcustom.htm
http://www.tga.gov.au/devices/drthirdparty.htm
Radiation Oncology Accreditations
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.
Scholarship Assessment Panel Nominations
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.
Downtime for Co-60 radiotherapy calibrations at ARPANSA
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.
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
March Scientific Seminar: College 2010 - Australia 2020: Visions for the Future
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.
Detector Ring 