Most Medical Physicists work in hospitals, and in order to do so must be registered with the Health & Care Professions Council as a Clinical Scientist

Many of the complex instruments and techniques used in modern medicine were developed by medical physicists.  With doctors, medical physicists are closely involved in assessing and treating illness and disability.  They also have a role in protecting patients and healthcare workers from potential hazards, including radiation.

As a Clinical Scientist specialising in an area of medical physics, you would most typically work in a hospital and be involved with the commissioning, calibration, safe operation and maintenance of systems used for looking at or measuring what is happening in the body, for example those using x-rays, ultrasound, light in various frequencies; laser Doppler blood flow measurement; magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine.

There are a number of different specialisms of medical physics, most of which are described below