Medical dosimetry program wins accreditation

Titus Kyenzeh (left) is a student in the Department of Radiation Oncology’s medical dosimetry certification program, which just earned accreditation thanks to a yearlong effort by Clinical Director Diana Baacke (center), Education Director Alonso Gutiérrez, Ph.D., (right) and the program’s director, Nikos Papanikolaou, Ph.D., (not pictured).

The Health Science Center’s one-year training certificate in medical dosimetry, offered through the Long School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology at the Health Science Center’s Cancer Therapy & Research Center, has become only the eighth program in the country to receive accreditation from the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology.

Medical dosimetry is the science of measuring and calculating the doses and format of radiation given to patients requiring radiation therapy.

“Accreditation makes us more competitive in recruiting high-caliber students,” noted the program’s education director, Alonso Gutiérrez, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiation oncology. The only other accredited program in Texas is at the U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.