Strong demand for medical physicists
Chances of getting a job as a qualified medical physicist are good due to:
- an ageing population with more health problems
- not enough people training as medical physicists to meet demand
- an ageing workforce, especially in diagnostic imaging
- a high turnover, as medical physicists often leave to work overseas for better pay.
Medical physicist appears on Immigration New Zealand's long-term skill shortage list. This means the Government is actively encouraging skilled medical physicists from overseas to work in New Zealand.
According to the Census, 144 medical physicists worked in New Zealand in 2018.
Competition for entry to specialist training
There is competition for hospital registrar training positions for the specialist medical physicist Masters programme because there are often more applicants than positions available.
You can increase your chances of getting a medical physicist registrar position if you:
- have consistently good grades in your undergraduate physics (or related) degree
- have good communication and problem-solving skills
- get involved in a relevant university summer research project
- visit a hospital medical physics department
- attend the annual medical physics conference
- apply for a scholarship through the ACPSEM NZ branch.
Most medical physicists work in hospitals
Most medical physicists work in oncology departments of public or private hospitals.
Medical physicists may also work for:
- universities and tertiary institutions (doing research and teaching)
- research institutes and laboratories
- medical equipment manufacturers
- private companies providing contracting services for imaging quality control or radiation safety advice.
