AAPM Celebrates Its Golden Anniversary

The quotes below are taken from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Golden Anniversary website.

Many of the greatest inventions in modern medicine were developed by physicists who imported technologies such as X rays, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasound, particle accelerators and radioisotope tagging and detection techniques into the medical domain. There they became magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT) scanning, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, and various radiotherapy treatment methods. These contributions have revolutionized medical techniques for imaging the human body and treating disease.

Now, in 2008, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the premier scientific and professional association of medical physicists, is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is calling attention to the field of medical physics achievements.

In the coming year, the AAPM will be calling attention to the many ways in which medical physics has revolutionized medicine. A few highlights include:

1. USING PARTICLE ACCELERATORS TO DEFEAT CANCER
2. BETTER DETECTION OF BREAST CANCER
3. MATTER/ANTIMATTER COLLISION IMAGING
4. ENSURING THE SAFETY OF PEOPLE WHO GET CT SCANS
5. MEDICAL PHYSICS MOMENTS IN HISTORY

This year, the AAPM journal, Medical Physics, will celebrate the 50th anniversary with a year-long celebration. Every issue published in 2008 will have an article devoted to history and reviews of special topics intended to recognize this anniversary, and will carry the AAPM anniversary logo.

The AAPM is a scientific, educational, and professional nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the application of physics to the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. The association encourages innovative research and development, helps disseminate scientific and technical information, fosters the education and professional development of medical physicists, and promotes the highest quality medical services for patients. In 2008, AAPM will celebrate its 50th year of serving patients, physicians, and physicists.

The 4th edition of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology provides an introduction to many of these important topics in medical physics.