[Intl_DxMedPhys] Diagnostic Physics work and AI

[Dave Jordan]

I guess I wouldn’t consider myself an "arbiter or poster kid for Medical Physics 3.0" but I _am_ a diagnostic physicist and the chair of the AAPM MP3.0 committee so that probably fits the point well enough.

To redirect the question of why Medical Physics 3.0 has not specifically proposed more involvement in validating and monitoring CAD and now AI systems: that is one of a large number of things that *does* fit well within what MP3.0 seeks to encourage and promote. In fact, I’d rather such suggestions “bubble up” from the community of practicing physicists. The MP3.0 committee is not a specially-ordained oracle that decides what is worth pursuing. Asking why we are not broadly and deeply involved in things that we *could* or *should* be is the very definition of a “very Medical Physics 3.0 question to ask.”

The follow-up questions are worth exploring. Why isn’t everyone doing this, and why haven’t they been doing for a long time already? Lack of know-how? Lack of guidance or standardization? Lack of access to the proprietary layers of the technology? Lack of interest or motivation from gatekeepers who control access or resources? Lack of interest from the physicists themselves, who have enough other work to do? Each one of these suggests potential initiatives to overcome it.

The way AAPM usually addresses technologies and clinical practices is to put out summary technical reports from Task Groups describing what one *could* do and Medical Physics Practice Guidelines to recommend to regulators the minimum standards that everyone *should* do. Do we have these for CAD/AI systems? If so, why aren’t they more widely known and adopted? If not, why not?

The concept of Medical Physics 3.0 is simply to encourage all of us to ask these questions and to become proactive to work toward answering them (“Why shouldn’t I? If not me, who?”). The AAPM MP3.0 committee doesn’t exclusively own any of this - it’s meant for the entire profession to do organically. We have some things we’re working on that apply this lens to AAPM’s strategic plan and priorities, but there are many more worthwhile opportunities out there than any one committee or working group could take on.

I’m always open to feedback and suggestions from the entire medical physics community on Medical Physics 3.0, but nobody needs my permission (or anyone else’s) to tackle a problem they wonder about. In fact, something that seems obvious to you, and that everyone else seems to overlook, usually signals a green field for you to play in and make an impact. There are few things that would gratify me more than seeing everyone in our field jumping into these challenges and becoming a “poster kid for Medical Physics 3.0."

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