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He had just finished his junior year and thought it
was time to set his sights on a career. He searched
for "physics careers" and a list on an American
Physical Society page popped up. The first career on
the list was medical physicist.
While getting a Ph.D. in medical physics,
Steger researched how Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) machines could be used to study
brain blood flow, which sometimes can eliminate
the need for invasive procedures. When he landed
his first job with GE Healthcare, Steger handled
computer programming of MRI scanners to
develop more efficient and novel ways of imaging
the human body.
Now as a radiation physicist at a hospital, he
works with radiologists and oncologists to make
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sure the radiation prescribed for patients is what
comes out of the machine. It’s also Steger’s job
to manipulate the radiation doses so that tumors
get high amounts of radiation and low doses go
everywhere else. Steger says it’s nice to see the
people who benefit from his work.
"It’s always a new problem to solve and it
requires pretty quick problem solving," Steger said.
"You have a patient on the table and something
strange happens, and we are first line of defense
to figure out what happened and why. I’ve always
been at least one step removed from end user -- the
person your research or work matters to. Here I am
not. You see the people you are helping and that is
incredibly motivating."
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If you want to know more about
the connection between medicine
and physics, contact Ted Steger at
tsteger@gmail.com.
Looking for more information on medical
physics? Check out:
http://www.aapm.org/medical_physicist/default.asp
Do Physics. Be Anything.
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