The physics that powers cancer treatment and medical imaging has to be taught to the next generation, and that's your work — training the clinical physicists behind safe, accurate care. Where physics is taught for the clinic.
The role blends teaching, research, and clinical connection — lecturing on radiation and imaging physics, supervising labs and research, and often linking to a hospital's clinical work. You prepare people for high-stakes roles, and the people you train will hold patient safety in their hands. Much of the craft is making rigorous physics clinically real.
The role varies by program and its clinical ties. Some lean academic and research-heavy; others sit close to a cancer center's daily work. Funding, accreditation, and the demands of a specialized field all press, and the bar is high because the stakes are clinical. For some, the weight is training people for genuinely life-or-death work.
It tends to suit the rigorous and mission-minded — people who love physics and care that it's applied safely. If you want pure research or industry pay, the academic-clinical mix may not fit. But if training the physicists who keep treatment safe matters to you, the work is demanding and genuinely consequential.
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Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
The physics that powers cancer treatment and medical imaging has to be taught to the next generation, and that's your work — training the clinical physicists behind safe, accurate care. Where physics is taught for the clinic.
Median pay for a Medical Physics Professor is about $97K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $55K to $170K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Instructing, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Science, and Active Learning.
Most people in this role hold a professional degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 2.5% through 2034, with roughly 13,590 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Environmental Engineering Professor, Engineering Professor, and Civil Engineering Professor.
Turn your career record
into a springboard for growth.