In 2013 clinical residency became a requirement of the ABR. From 2013 to 2023, 98.3 percent (57/58) of our master's program graduates and 100 percent (4/4) of our PhD graduates who applied for at least one residency position were matched and enrolled. By comparison, from 2017 to 2020 CAMPEP has reported an average masters residency acceptance rate of 70% and an average PhD residency acceptance rate of 97.5% across all CAMPEP approved graduate programs (approximately 55 approved programs).

There are multiple factors that influence this success.

1. We have a strong didactic program and a heavy clinical-based practicum. This clinical practicum is extremely important. First, it is hands-on clinical work under the supervision of faculty medical physicists or residents. Secondly, you get to interact and work with all the team members in the department including physicians, nurses, therapists, dosimetrists, etc. Thirdly, it reinforces the didactic work because you get to apply what you are learning in the classroom.
2. The clinical-based practicum not only teaches you how to perform a medical physicist's duties but also shows you how to interact with patients and other team members. It helps you develop your soft skills. In general, a great medical physicist has both excellent hard and soft skills. Residency directors are looking for both skillsets but often times looking harder at the soft skills as they want a great team player.
3. Our residency program only accepts our graduates. We have three to four open residency slots per year.
4. There are multiple residency programs that specifically seek our graduate students.

The American Board of Radiology (ABR) certification exam is a three-part exam (https://www.theabr.org/medical-physics). The third final part of the exam is an oral exam. For graduate students who graduated since 2014, 87.8 percent passed or conditioned-passed part 3 on their first attempt. For residents who completed UK’s residency program since 2015, 96 percent passed or conditioned-passed part 3 on their first attempt. In contrast, the ABR 2016-2022 averaged published statistics is 80 percent for all first-time test takers (https://www.theabr.org/medical-physics/initial-certification/part-3-exam...).