About
Our Story
What is TrueNorth Medical Physics?
That’s a good question. One we’ve asked ourselves a lot. However, we think there is a more important question to answer. “Why is there a TrueNorth Medical Physics?”
We built our company with a focus on clients, patients and science in direct response to working in an industry too often focused on shareholders, bottom lines and edicts from financial departments.
Our origin story really begins with a group of medical physicists running a division within a large, well-known corporation. Our division was doing excellent work across the U.S., building relationships and making profit. Despite that, for one corporate reason or another, we were given an ultimatum – Buy the division or we are closing it.
There were a lot of roads we could have taken that day, many of them far easier than starting our own company. But as a group we decided we still had more we wanted to give back to our clients, patients and the larger industry. We wanted to try to try the road less travelled – becoming an independent company searching for a better way in the industry.
TrueNorth was born.
And we immediately set out to find that better way. A way that is client-focused, building contracts that won’t nickel and dime, but instead fit the exact needs of a site. A way that remembers the patients’ needs and challenges, too. A way that manages to be team-focused, bringing in people excited to be part of an independent company and then helping them to discover the best fit for their lives and careers. A way that lets us feel good about what we’re doing and allows us to have a little fun along the way. An independent way that is run by physicists.
And over time we realized that like a compass pointing “True North,” our company was helping to find a better way, which led to us officially defining our mission....
TrueNorth points you in the right direction by charting a better path forward in medical physics and dosimetry.
Maybe that doesn’t fully answer the question, “What is TrueNorth Medical Physics,” but that’s because we don’t yet know what TrueNorth will become. Our path continues to evolve, growing and changing as we continue to chart a better way. Helping to guide us along that path are our TrueNorth Values:
Do the right thing.
Play well with others.
Turn aspirations into opportunities.
Prioritize independence and longevity.
Create sustained partnerships.
We’re excited to travel the path that our Values and Mission will chart, for TrueNorth and the wider industry.
A Medical Physics Company Led by Medical Physicists
Matt Daniels, Ph.D., DABR
Managing Partner & Owner
An ABR board-certified medical physicist, Matt is a founding partner of TrueNorth Medical Physics. Previously, he served as director of linear accelerator commissioning for Landauer; senior product and physics team manager at Sun Nuclear Corporation; and medical physicist at Health First.
Matt has many sports allegiances. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest; earned his PhD in Physics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison; and studied business at “the” Ohio State University and Rollins College. When he isn’t playing degree bingo, Matt is an active member of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He also enjoys herding chickens with his wife and kids.
Rob Hayward, Ph.D.
Managing Partner & Owner
Prior to becoming a founding partner of TrueNorth Medical Physics, Rob worked as a product physicist for Sun Nuclear Corporation where he developed QA software with a focus on dose calculation algorithms.
Rob is the co-author of several peer-reviewed publications related to applications of transport theory in both radiation therapy and reactor physics. He holds an MS in Medical Physics and a PhD in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering from Georgia Tech.
Robert Staton, Ph.D., DABR
Managing Partner & Owner
Robert is a founding partner of TrueNorth Medical Physics and an ABR board-certified medical physicist. Prior to TrueNorth, he served as lead commissioning physicist at Landauer and as senior medical physicist at Orlando Health Cancer Institute.
He performed funded research on clinical applications of adaptive radiation therapy and is the co-author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. Robert is a frequently-invited speaker for industry groups and is active in residency education. He is a member of the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and serves as an AAPM liaison to the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors.
Trusted Partners, Partnerships and More
Relationships with others in the industry are everything. As an independent, physicist-owned medical physics practice group, we are not bound by corporate or investor policies that dictate how business relationships must be structured.
At TrueNorth Medical Physics, we do what feels right. TrueNorth participates with others in the traditional “Trusted Partner” status. In addition, we create unique partnership arrangements including investing in start-ups.
Accuray – Partnership
Accuray is partnering with TrueNorth to provide radiation oncology departments with third-party support – on-site, remote or hybrid – to help ensure they have the staffing needed to achieve patient treatment goals.
TrueNorth has the knowledge base to provide physics, dosimetry and commissioning support for the Accuray TomoTherapy®, Radixact® and CyberKnife® Systems and is dedicated to providing unbiased feedback and support that improves the practice of radiation therapy medicine as well as the team’s ability to deliver care.
Accuray partnered with TrueNorth to provide care teams with another option for obtaining the resources they require to advance the treatment of cancer for more patients within their facilities.
Medical Physics Services International (MPSi) - Partnership
MPSi is a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) based in Ireland. Since 2004, MPSi has led the European radiation oncology community in providing comprehensive commissioning support and in assisting clients with implementing cutting-edge technologies.
What is better than independence? Independence is great. Independence and expertise are better. Independence, expertise and scale are an unbeatable combination. How do you form that unbeatable combination?
MPSi and TrueNorth Medical Physics are partnering to expand MPSi’s commissioning presence in Europe. Blending MPSi’s independence and world-class expertise in Europe with the scale and software tools of TrueNorth, the largest independent commissioning company in North America, creates that unbeatable combination.
Medscint – Strategic Partner and Investor
Supporting the industry’s startup ecosystem is part of TrueNorth’s vision. Medscint, an innovative, leading provider of flexible dosimetry solutions based on plastic scintillation detector technology, is the first startup with which TrueNorth is affiliating. TrueNorth serves as a strategic partner and investor to Medscint with the objective of pushing the limits of innovation in radiotherapy.
This partnership grew out of the successful collaboration between the two companies. TrueNorth spent a year testing Medscint’s HYPERSCINT dosimetry system at multiple sites and saw how it can improve small field dosimetry.
TrueNorth is investing both time and money in the partnership to assist Medscint in delivering better products and achieving regulatory approvals in the US and internationally. The partnership is a commitment of both companies to advancing patient care through innovation and excellence.
Radiation Oncology Systems, Inc. – Trusted Partner
Radiation Oncology Systems (ROS) provides affordable, high-quality refurbished and used radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging equipment solutions to facilities around the world, increasing access to quality health care services for millions of patients.
“When it comes to commissioning a linear accelerator, TrueNorth is one of the most capable companies around. They specialize in commissioning work and can shave valuable days off the commissioning schedule, allowing facilities to start treating faster. TrueNorth also offers on-site, remote, and hybrid medical physics and dosimetry support.”
— Radiation Oncology Systems
TrueNorth loves partnering with residency programs to help teach the next generation of physicists about commissioning in a real “on-the-job” setting. If you know of medical physics residents who would like a similar experience, have them contact us at info@truenorthmedphys.com
Commissioning Residency
A medical physics resident from MD Anderson/Cooper University joined us when we commissioned a new Elekta VersaHD at the Radiation Center of Greater Nashua.