About CAMPEP

Our Scope of Activities:

The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP) accredits master- and doctoral-level graduate programs, post-graduate residency programs, professional doctorate in medical physics (DMP) programs, certificate programs, and continuing education programs in medical physics.

Our Purposes:

The purposes of CAMPEP are as follows:

  1. To ensure the quality of the education and training of medical physicists.
  2. To publicly identify those graduate and residency programs that have achieved CAMPEP accreditation.
  3. To require accountability of medical physics graduate, residency and continuing educational programs to CAMPEP as a higher authority responsible for accrediting the programs.
  4. To require accredited programs to have in place a process for continuous quality improvement and management for change.
  5. To communicate with its multiple constituencies the mission, purpose and processes employed by CAMPEP to improve graduate and residency education in medical physics.
  6. To employ appropriate and fair practices in decision making related to the accreditation of educational programs.
  7. To provide a process of continuing review, assessment and improvement of accreditation practices.
  8. To expect accredited institutions to have in place processes to accommodate change and growth, to ensure continuous improvement in its programs, and to enhance the ability of graduates to advance the contributions of medical physics to the care of patients.

The scope and purposes of CAMPEP serve the public interest by improving the safety and effectiveness of health care and by advancing the frontiers of knowledge through research and technology development.

Our Activities:

CAMPEP accredits master’s and doctoral level programs, residency programs, professional doctorate in medical physics (DMP) programs, certificate programs, and continuing education programs in medical physics. Programs are granted CAMPEP accreditation only if they meet the rigorous standards of education and training described in the CAMPEP Graduate Standards and CAMPEP Residency Standards.

Our Sponsors:

CAMPEP is sponsored by the following five organizations: American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American College of Radiology (ACR), Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Our History:

Accreditation of medical physics educational programs in North America began in the late 1980s as a “service” offered by the AAPM. The first programs to gain accreditation were the graduate programs in medical physics at Wayne State University (1988), The University of Wisconsin (1988, The University of Texas – Houston (1989) and McGill University (1993). At this time, it was recognized that accreditation should, more properly, be independent of professional organizations and CAMPEP was formed and incorporated in Illinois in 1994. CAMPEP was initially sponsored by three U.S. organizations, including the now defunct American College of Medical Physics. The Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (CCPM) joined the list of sponsors in 2001, and was replaced by COMP in 2010, and the RSNA and ASTRO joined in 2012. The first continuing education programs were accredited in 1995 and the first residency program accredited was Washington University School of Medicine (1997).