The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) has introduced a new training grant for nuclear medicine physics residents.
The grant was made possible by support from the Education and Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. It was created to encourage the training of nuclear medicine physicists within established or new medical physics residency training programs, specifically to increase the number of medical physics residents who are training in nuclear medicine physics and are ultimately seeking board certification, SNMMI said.
Only a few residency training programs exist for nuclear medicine physicists, and it is critical to have more training opportunities so these individuals can qualify to sit for board certification exams, the society added.
Currently, two organizations certify nuclear medicine physicists: the American Board of Radiology (ABR) and the American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine (ABSNM). The new grant program will provide funds to support one resident per year who commits to training in nuclear medicine physics within a medical physics residency training program that is currently accredited or in the process of becoming accredited.
Funding will be awarded to the residency training program, which will then identify a resident for whom the support will be applied.
Criteria used to judge the training program include commitment to nuclear medicine physics, adequate staff resources, facilities related to nuclear medicine training, and the quality of the training program based on the description of the training rotations, didactic content, and quality of training partners, if used, SNMMI said.
Applications and further information about requirements for the grant are available at snmmi.org/grants. Applications are due February 15, 2014.
