Health Physics

The aim of the course is that the participants acquire knowledge and understand the problems connected with Health Physics and Radiation Protection, subjects with a strong interdisciplinary content, whose understanding can make a contribution to a better quality of the life, of the environment, for health and safety in the workplace, subjecys that are of primary interest in the life sciences field.
The aim is to make it clear that since the beginning of the twentieth century numerous discoveries and new applications have followed one after another in the various sectors of Physics, significantly leading to a widening of knowledge also in disciplines, not necessarily related to Physics, but which contribute more than any other to improving the quality of life. These include the applications of ionizing radiation, starting from the discovery of radioactivity and X-rays, up to the medical applications of the use of radionuclides for diagnostics and metabolic radiotherapy and of NMR imaging techniques.
For this purpose, the conceptual bases of Health Physics are provided, explaining and deciphering the characterizing concepts of this discipline in the specific operational aspects of the subject itself. Health Physics, in addition to covering aspects of operational radiation protection, addresses the development of new analytical and dosimetric techniques and wider issues, such as support and aid to decision making, in relation to the assessment of risks, the drafting of guidelines in the management of problems that may involve radioecology, waste management, food safety, energy production, use of diagnostic or therapeutic techniques, use of radiopharmaceuticals, toxicology, the use of alternative techniques in the control of industrial processes.

At the end of the course the student will start to have the basics concepts and expertize, characterizing the Health Physics which include:
· -the use of physical and mathematical methods necessary to develop research in the field of physics applied to the medicine, the environment and the industry;
· having in-depth knowledge of the interaction of radiation with matter;
· being autonomous in the use of instrumentation and detection techniques and their use for dosimetric and radiation protection purposes;
· having the basic about biological, physiological and morphological knowledge of the human organism;
· having the knowledge of radiobiological quantities;
· knowing how to apply the calculation techniques for the evaluation of the energy transfer of the radiations to the matter with particular reference to the biological one;
· the deepening of the concepts related to natural radiation sources;
· the deepening of the concepts related to artificial radiation sources and their mode of production using reactors and accelerators;
· the ability to use models to describe the spread of pollutants in the environment and their metabolism in humans;
· the ability to present the recommendations of international institutions and the regulations in force in the field of ionizing radiation and the management of environmental contamination, with their social, ethical and economic implications;
· having a qualification that allows working in conditions of autonomy, assuming responsibility for projects and structures in the field of health, research, promotion and development of scientific and technological innovation.