Biomedical Physics

The Biomedical Physics Graduate Program (BMP) at the Stanford University School of Medicine is a premier doctoral training program hosted jointly by the Departments of Radiology and Radiation Oncology. Established in 2021 with the support of Radiation Oncology Chair Dr. Quynh Le and the late Radiology Chair Dr. Sam Gambhir, BMP is the first Ph.D. program at Stanford to be offered by clinical departments. This unique structure places students at the intersection of basic physical sciences, advanced engineering, and clinical medicine.

Stanford has a long and storied history of pioneering diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. Here, scientists and clinicians developed the first medical linear accelerator (LINAC) for cancer radiation therapy and pioneered innovations in non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The BMP program continues this legacy of translational impact, training the next generation of scientific leaders to conduct rigorous, high-leverage research that bridges physical science with clinical application.

Academic Programs and Training

The BMP program offers an interdisciplinary doctoral pathway designed for students with strong backgrounds in physics, engineering, computer science, and mathematics who wish to apply these skills to medicine. The program offers a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Biomedical Physics. This research-intensive doctoral program provides rigorous training in conceptual modeling, mathematical formulation, and algorithmic development for technologies intended for clinical translation. The curriculum emphasizes a balanced set of didactic courses covering radiation biology, medical imaging systems, radiation therapy physics, and molecular diagnostics. Because of the program's clinical emphasis, students gain unique direct exposure to real-world clinical environments, shadowing clinicians and clinical physicists to understand how laboratory technologies are deployed to treat patients.

Research Frontiers and Clinical Translation

Faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and students within the BMP program lead cutting-edge, translatable research across a number of key technological frontiers. These include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced Radiation Therapy: Developing next-generation radiation delivery systems, real-time tumor tracking, flash radiotherapy, and computational algorithms for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT).

• Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging: Engineering and optimizing advanced imaging modalities—including MRI, CT, ultrasound, and X-ray—to improve non-invasive disease detection, characterization, and surgical guidance.

• Molecular Imaging and Theranostics: Designing novel molecular probes, PET/SPECT technologies, and optical imaging methods to visualize cellular and molecular processes in vivo, enabling doctors to diagnose and treat diseases precisely.

• Molecular Diagnostics and Disease Detection: Developing highly sensitive assays, biosensors, and microfluidic technologies for early-stage disease screening and personalized monitoring.