The Chief Clinical MR Physicist will have the opportunity to run the clinical MR physicist division and to mentor junior physicists and will be provided the resources necessary to be successful. The Chief and junior physicists will be responsible for assuring that all MGH affiliated scanners are operating effectively and within compliance and regulatory standards. The Chief and his/her team will work closely with the MR operations team, Divisional MR radiologists, manufacturer physicists and service engineers, and manufacturer application specialists to optimize patient care. This will be achieved by addressing all scanner hardware and software malfunctions on a timely basis, continually improving protocols and standardizing them across scanners, assuring MR safety, supervising the installation of new MR scanners, orchestrating the ACR accreditation process and developing and maintaining technical support for radiologists and technologists. The Chief Clinical MR physicist will assure compliance with all regulatory and certifying agency requirements (eg. Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the MA Determination of Need office, The Joint Commission and the American College of Radiology). The Chief Clinical MR Physicist and his/her team will be responsible for teaching MR Physics to Radiology residents, fellows and attendings and MR technologists and for coordinating clinical MR research activities. The Chief will have the opportunity to collaborate on research projects with various departments and faculty members at MGH, as well as with the Martinos center physicists which will be crucial for translating key sequences and applications to the clinical MR scanners. The Chief Clinical MR Physicist will report directly to the Clinical Director of MRI and will be expected to attend MR physics, operations, protocol and safety meetings on a routine basis.

* The Chief Clinical MR Physicist will have the opportunity to run the clinical MR physics division including the mentoring of junior physicists The Chief and members of the team will assume responsibility for all items listed below. The Department of Radiology will provide the resources necessary to achieve these goals.

* Assure that all MGH affiliated scanners are operating effectively and safely at all times and assume responsibility for optimizing image quality on all MGH affiliated scanners. To achieve this, the Chief physicist and his/her team will:

A. Oversee all policies and procedures with regard to the safe and productive operation of MR systems.

B. Work closely with GE and Siemens service engineers to address all scanner hardware, coil and software malfunctions.

C. Work with Siemens and GE applications specialists to understand and effectively implement all new software as it becomes commercially available in order to maximize image quality. This will include working closely with Divisional MR and other radiologists who will carefully evaluate image quality and clinical utility.

D. Work with Divisional MR Radiologists, other radiologists and the MR QA manager to continually improve and shorten MR protocols and standardize them between scanners.

E. Work with GE and Siemens physicists and research teams to evaluate works in progress (WIPs). This will include understanding and testing WIPS, presenting them to the radiologists to evaluate and implementing those that are deemed clinically useful.

F. Work with physicists at the Martinos Center to determine which sequences developed by them are ready to be evaluated on the MGH clinical scanners. Work with radiologists and the MR QA manager to assess these sequences and implement those that are clinically useful.

G. Modify pulse sequences as needed based on radiologists' specific requirements outside of standard product protocols (for example ASL, Perfusion, etc).

H. Collect and analyze statistical data from QatchAll and other sources to identify sequences that produce poor image quality and systematically revise the sequences or replace them in order to improve image quality.

I. Resolve all technical MR issues that go beyond routine conventional scanner service questions.

J. Attend manufacture/software specific MR physics training as defined by the needs of the MR department.

K. An MR physicist will be available by cell phone every day so that: (1) he/she can help solve particular complex problems with image quality; (2) he/she can help determine whether certain implanted devices are safe in an MR scanner.

* Assure that the physics team is integrally involved in the purchase and installation of new scanners. Responsibilities include:

A. Review all quotes to assure that all desired software and hardware specifications are included.

B. Manage all physics aspects related to scanner installation including assuring appropriate shielding, accurate gauss line determinations, strict adherence to all MR safety guidelines, interfacing with MGH Biomedical Engineering, attending construction renovation meetings, etc.

C. Work with manufacturer applications specialists, Divisional MR radiologists and the MR QA manager to develop and implement all protocols.

D. Support the installation of ancillary equipment within the MR scan room.

E. Be available as needed to perform signal to noise testing and artifact evaluation.

F. Assist the MR leadership team in the evaluation of conditional-implants as they relate to scanner specifications.

* Supervise and strictly adhere to all ACR requirements for accreditation

A. ACR requires weekly checking of Q/A measurements. The MR physicists will maintain and further develop an automated program which provides a daily QA report for each scanner, tracking: Center Frequency, TX gain/reference, image uniformity, slice accuracy, geometric accuracy, ghosting, RF stability, SNR and helium levels as processed from Q/A data collected and entered into the MR physics website.

B. Trigger plots for each scanner needing service will be automatically flagged and sent daily to the operations and technical managers for all sites.

C. Annual ACR phantom tests will be performed and there will be a biannual ACR report for each scanner for license renewal.

D. Work with the MR QA manager and Divisional MR radiologists to evaluate all images submitted to the ACR.

* Develop and maintain technical support for radiologists and technologists

A. The website, (), will serve as a crucial resource for technologists and radiologists. It will contain all acquired daily QA reports, ACR reports, MR policies, MR safety information, MR protocols, MR physics lectures, eGFR forms, Gadolinium dose calculators, etc.

B. MR physicist will also maintain and further develop an MR protocol remote management and control web server. This will allow propagation of each new protocol, as it is developed, from a single web based interface anywhere to all scanners.

C. The Chief Physicist will review and address as needed image quality concerns, questions, and issues as formally logged in the MGH Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Reporting Tool.

* Assume responsibility for teaching the following groups

A. MGH Radiology residents - Basic MR physics

B. MGH Fellows and Attending Radiologists - Advanced MR imaging techniques

C. MGH technologists - Basic MR physics

D. All of the lectures will be maintained as PDF files on the physics web site and are accessible on the partners network.

* Responsible for the following clinical research activities

A. Collaborate with Martinos center faculty and clinical faculty to create new cutting edge clinical MR applications in keeping with the specific needs and mandates of the MR Division and Radiology Department including the development of ultrafast MR sequences.

B. Provide support to clinical faculty for clinical research projects involving MR imaging. Those include MR physics expertise on grant and manuscript preparations.

C. Implement and maintain protocols associated with funded clinical research projects on all MGH MR scanners.

D. Supervise the transition of innovative new imaging techniques, protocols and coil design from research/development to clinical use

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES REQUIRED: