Health Physics

Health physics is the science of radiation protection: keeping people and the environment safe while making the beneficial use of radiation in medicine, energy, and industry possible. As those technologies expand, the field needs more than practitioners; it needs researchers and leaders who can answer the hard questions and train the next generation. The PhD in Health Physics is built for exactly that: a rigorous, research-focused doctorate that grows out of our well-established MS program and helps prepare you to advance the discipline.

You'll begin with advanced coursework in dosimetry, environmental health physics, and radiation policy, then move into research methods and seminars that sharpen how you design and communicate independent work. From there, you'll partner with a faculty mentor to pursue original dissertation research, drawing on UAB's Cyclotron Facility, Office of Radiation Safety, and Department of Radiology, along with a national network of industry and government collaborators that expands regularly. Working in areas from radiation risk assessment and radiobiology to novel radiopharmaceuticals and the radiological challenges of advanced nuclear fission and fusion, you'll learn how to produce research that could meaningfully advance the field. This program is designed to help graduates lead as faculty, senior scientists, and radiation safety leaders in academia, government, healthcare, and industry.