Colorado Associates in Medical Physics (CAMP) is a private medical physics practice that has served the Rocky Mountain region in an official capacity since 1988. The group’s origins extend back to the late 1970s, when its three founders, Jerry White, Greg Gibbs, and Mike Bailey, were already practicing medical physics across multiple clinical domains and decided to formally organize CAMP with a simple but enduring goal: to create the kind of medical physics practice they wanted for themselves, and believed patients deserved.
At the time of CAMP’s founding, it was common for medical physicists to certify across multiple specialties, often spanning both radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging. CAMP’s founders were grounded primarily in therapeutic medical physics but also held diagnostic certifications, allowing them to support imaging-related needs directly from their radiation oncology practices. This dual competency fostered an early model of integration, one that emphasized continuity, shared accountability, and deep clinical engagement rather than episodic technical support.
Integration as a Philosophy, not a Contract Status
From the outset, CAMP’s founders were passionate about providing integrated medical physics care to departments and, ultimately, to patients. Jerry White frequently described the medical physics office as the central nervous system of the department, bridging clinical intent and technical execution, while interfacing continuously with physicians, therapists, technologists, administrators, and vendors.
Although CAMP has always operated under formal service agreements, its physicists are often so embedded in daily operations that hospital staff may not even realize they are not directly employed by the institution. This level of integration is not accidental; it reflects a deliberate philosophy that medical physics is a longitudinal clinical service rather than a transactional function.
It is also worth noting that while service contracts are, by nature, term-limited and periodically updated, CAMP’s relationships are notably durable. The group’s original three hospital contracts, established in 1988, remain active today through renewals, extensions, and updated agreements, reflecting decades-long partnerships built on trust, presence, and shared accountability rather than short-term deliverables.
Defining “Consulting” Versus “Medical Physics Services”
CAMP is often labeled as a consulting group. While not inaccurate in a contractual sense, the term “consulting” can unintentionally suggest a passive, episodic, or advisory-only relationship. In many industries, consulting implies brief engagement, limited operational ownership, and defined deliverables that conclude once a project is complete.
In medical physics, consulting services play an essential and legitimate role. These include short-term or discrete engagements such as:
- Equipment commissioning and acceptance testing
- Shielding design and radiation safety evaluations
- Independent audits or peer review
- In Vivo Dosimetry measurement and analysis
CAMP provides these services and recognizes their importance. These engagements are often highly technical, time-limited, and appropriately scoped to a specific need.
However, the heart of CAMP’s work lies elsewhere: in the ongoing, integrated delivery of medical physics services that are woven into the daily clinical life of a department.
What Integrated Medical Physics Looks Like in Practice
In radiation oncology, CAMP physicists are physically present in clinics on a daily basis. Their role extends far beyond compliance testing or periodic review to include:
- Collaborating closely with physicians to understand clinical intent and patient-specific goals
- Participating in chart rounds and peer review to account for patient-specific considerations
- Performing initial physics plan reviews before physician review to optimize parameters while adjustments are still efficient
- Supporting the full HDR workflow from preparation through delivery
- Creating or independently reviewing stereotactic treatment plans
- Providing direct support to therapists, including competency development and RTT-credits with educational offerings
- Serving as the first call for machine issues, with intimate knowledge of each unit’s operational history
- Actively participating in incident reporting and review to support a continually improving safety culture.
In diagnostic imaging, integration takes a different yet continuous form:
- Optimizing imaging protocols to balance diagnostic performance and patient dose
- Serving as a trusted first resource for questions related to image quality, utilization, dose metrics, and RDIM review
- Participating in radiation safety committees, MRI safety, quality meetings, and acting as an available resource when radiation safety questions arise
- Supporting accreditation efforts across all imaging modalities
- Education and oversight for equipment Quality Management programs
- Validation and implementation of software tools, such as AI and qMRI, prior to clinical use
- Oversight for image quality and safety for image-guided procedures including surgery and radiation therapy
- Patient consultation on radiation risk and MRI screening
- Advancing a “physics for every patient” mindset, including patient-specific dosimetry where appropriate
- Providing coverage for theranostic procedures and radioembolizations
Across all service lines, CAMP professionals function as extensions to the physician’s practice. They are accessible, accountable, and deeply familiar with local workflows. They understand not only clinical aspirations, but also operational constraints, such as financial, regulatory, and staffing-related, and work collaboratively within those realities to improve outcomes.
A Balanced View of Consulting and Why Integration Matters
Consulting plays an important and respected role in medical physics. Short-term, focused engagements, such as commissioning, shielding design, audits, peer review, or specialized technical support, are often the most efficient way to address defined clinical or regulatory needs. These services benefit from clear scope, targeted expertise, and limited duration. CAMP provides consulting services when appropriate and respects colleagues whose practice is centered on this model.
However, CAMP’s experience, and that of many integrated physics groups nationally, suggests that the greatest value of medical physics emerges through longitudinal presence, shared ownership, and deep clinical integration. This perspective aligns with broader professional conversations emphasizing:
- Professional judgment over rote measurement
- Systems-based practice and failure-mode awareness
- Incident learning and continuous quality improvement
These themes are reflected in widely cited professional work such as the AAPM’s guidance on risk-informed quality management (e.g., TG-100), ASTRO’s focus on safety culture and peer review (e.g. “Safety is no Accident”), and the growing literature on incident learning systems and human factors in radiotherapy and imaging. The emphasis lies in how systems are designed, monitored, and improved.
Medical physics, at its best, is not a service that appears briefly to satisfy a requirement and then departs. It is a profession that builds bridges between clinical need and technical capability, between safety and innovation, and ultimately between technology and patient care.
CAMP’s model is not the only valid model, but it is one that reflects a belief that true impact comes from being present, accountable, and invested day after day, patient after patient.
If CAMP is not best described as a consulting group, then what is it?
At its core, CAMP is a medical physics service group that delivers integrated, longitudinal physics support across radiation oncology, diagnostic imaging, and nuclear medicine departments. This description emphasizes what CAMP does rather than how it is structured or compensated, and it reflects ongoing responsibility, clinical accountability, and alignment with patient care and departmental operations. Structurally, CAMP operates as an independent private practice, a distinction that conveys professional autonomy and independence from vendors or single institutions, but this is secondary to its clinical role. While CAMP provides consulting services when appropriate, consulting is not its defining characteristic. Integration is. CAMP’s physicists function as an extension of the clinical team, providing continuity, institutional memory, and first-call expertise that supports safety, quality, and patient-centered care over time. In this sense, consulting is something CAMP does, but an integrated medical physics service group is who CAMP is.
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References
- American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).
Task Group 100: Application of Risk Analysis Methods to Radiation Therapy Quality Management. Med Phys. 2016;43(7):4209–4262.
- American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
Safety Is No Accident: A Framework for Quality Radiation Oncology Care.
ASTRO White Paper, updated editions.
