When I was in my final year at school and deciding what I wanted to study at university I was torn between physics and biology. I loved biology; it fascinated me so much that I had read the entire text book we were given to study from within a month of being given it. But I had a problem with biology, and that was Latin names. I just couldn’t get my head around them, and the way the subject was taught at school suggested to me that a biology degree would consist of nothing more than memorising a whole bunch of facts and Latin words.

I also loved physics. Again, the way my school taught physics did absolutely nothing to instil in me any interest in the subject. I discovered real physics myself by reading popular science books by physicists such as Hawkins and Feynman, which my dad had left lying around the house. I was eager to learn more about the mysteries of quarks and relativity, but what ultimately made me choose physics over biology was that I knew a physics degree would involve problem solving and abstract thinking. And so I chose physics and embarked on a four year degree at Surrey University.

The interest in biology never left me though, and when the second year brought with it the chance to choose some of my modules of training I discovered some with the name Medical Physics. I had never heard of this before, and the word ‘Medical’ excited me so I signed up for all the Medical Physics modules that were on offer. Medical Physics turned out to be a fascinating and highly practical way of applying physics to problems relating to the medical field, with the added benefit of doing something really beneficial for people.

In my third year I got a taste of it in the field, when I did a research placement at a therapy proton facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. I couldn’t get over how perfect this subject was – it involved the exciting world of powerful particle accelerators to send protons flying down a beam-line into the cancerous tumour of a patient sat at the end. Physics and biology literally collided. No wonder then, that when I finished my degree I decided I wanted to become a medical physicist.

The path to becoming a Medical Physicist is quite long however. The problem with Medical Physics is that you are often dealing with live people and ionising radiation or other dangerous modalities. This is not a combination you would usually wish to see, and so safety is a primary element of becoming a medical physicist. You must build up enough experience and background knowledge to allow you to safely work with these potentially dangerous devices, hence it takes about 4 to 5 years to train to become a medical physicist.

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