The Radiation Oncology Physics Residency Program at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is a training program in Radiation Therapy Medical Physics.

The global objective of the Radiation Oncology Physics Residency Program at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is trifold:

1. “Hit the ground running.” Providing clinical training in the field of Radiation Oncology Physics that will prepare our residency graduates for certification by the American Board of Radiology and a successful independent clinical practice. 
2. “Making the most of academic knowledge to benefit current and future patients.” Educating medical physics residents on how to apply their academic knowledge and analytical skills towards ensuring safety and high quality of medical care in a constantly evolving field of radiation oncology. 
3. “Career longevity.” We consider it one of the main goals of our program to enable development of a well-rounded professional capable of taking a leadership role in advancing radiation oncology as a field. This comes with deep understanding of integrative role of a medical physicist in radiation oncology and ability to communicate with various clinical teams efficiently and effectively. 

Training Facility

The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is a multimodality radiation treatment center. Opened in 2006, the Institute to date has treated more than 11,000 patients from 34 different countries. The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is an integral part of the UF Health Cancer Center which is an NCI-Designated Cancer Center and a three-time recipient of the Cancer Center of Excellence Award from the State of Florida. The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute was the first proton center in the South to be accredited by the American College of Radiology. The Institute provides radiation oncology services to patients of all ages and with all radiation indications, including patients with pediatric, head and neck, CNS, breast, urologic, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, eye, skin, recurrent cancers as well as sarcoma, lymphoma, oligometastases and benign tumors. 

The Institute’s proton therapy delivery techniques include single scattering, double scattering and intensity-modulated therapy via pencil beam scanning (PBS). The initial system installed in 2005 consists of a cyclotron (ProteusPLUS cyclotron by IBA), three rotational gantries and one fixed-beam room. In 2019, the Institute added a second proton accelerator (ProteusONE synchrocyclotron) with a rotational gantry. This was part of a $44 million expansion and upgrade project that has enhanced the Institute's ability to deliver PBS treatments and provided various upgrades to our original proton system. Currently, out of the Institute’s four rotational gantries, three have PBS and one is equipped to provide double scattering beams. The fifth room is equipped with a fixed single scattering beam for the treatment of cancers of the eye. All four rotational gantry rooms are equipped with CBCT to deliver image-guided proton radiation therapy, while the fixed beam room operates using kV orthogonal images. 

The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute’s scope of megavoltage photon therapy equipment is comprised of multiple linear accelerators from multiple vendors (2 Elekta^TM and one Varian^TM). Our linear accelerators are equipped with cone beam CT, with patient treatment techniques ranging from 3DCRT, IMRT/IGRT to SBRT and SRS. TrueBeam^TM linear accelerator by Varian is equipped with 6MV and 10MV treatment energies, HD MLC and flattening filter free (FFF) delivery. The TrueBeam room includes patient six degree-of-freedom (6DoF) positioning by CBCT and a robotic table; gated treatment delivery using Real-time Position Management (RPM) system is available. Elekta accelerators are 2005 Elekta Precise models, equipped with standard MLC and CBCT. Both machines have identical set of treatment options including three megavoltage photon and five electron energies. Currently, the Institute and UF Health Jacksonville (UFHJAX) are in a process of discussing replacement strategies for these two machines, with a new linear accelerator purchase expected within two to three years. 

The Institute has accumulated a long history of low-dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy treatments using Cs-137 (T&O) and Ir-192 sources (Syed, currently offered). 

The Institute's patient simulation suite currently consists of the following: Philips Brilliance CT Big Bore, Panorama 0.23T MRI and Gemini GXL PET CT. Philips Brilliance CT Big Bore underwent a major upgrade in 2021. In addition, UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is adding 1.5T MRI Simulator by Philips in 2024.

Currently, the Institute employs Raystation^TM as a treatment planning system for majority of available treatment modalities, with Eclipse^TM being utilized for LDR brachytherapy. 

The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute's medical physics residents are involved in all aspects of machine commissioning and periodic quality assurance, clinical treatment planning and treatment planning system (TPS) quality assurance and commissioning tests. 

In addition, the Institute's physics residents receive training in HDR Brachytherapy, Radiopharmaceuticals and special procedures such as TBI and TSET, provided at the UF Gainesville campus. Rotation supervision and evaluation is done by designated medical physics faculty mentors at UF Gainesville. During this external Rotation, The Institute's Residents’ out-of-town living expenses are covered by the ‘home’ (the Institute) program. UF Radiation Oncology Department in Gainesville, Fla. is located approximately 70 miles from the Institute. It offers Linac-based 3DCRT, IMRT/IGRT, VMAT, SBRT, SRS, MRI-guided RT, Total Body Irradiation, Total Skin Electron Therapy; orthovoltage radiotherapy, HDR remote afterloading brachytherapy and an assortment of radiopharmaceutical therapy treatments.