Our A Level and GCSE scientists were kindly invited by the Institute of Physics, in collaboration with the UK Biomedical Engineering Steering Committee, to the Peter Wells Memorial Lecture today to explore the role of physics and engineering in medicine. The focus was on the treatment of cancer through radiotherapy and therapeutic ultrasound. 

This incredibly inspiring online lecture discussed the role of physicists, and physics in the treatment of cancer patients to save and extend lives. From a technological perspective,  the role of “big physics” was explored, namely particle accelerators in therapeutic radiography with Prof Probst, followed by the role of “small physics” in the form of high intensity focussed ultrasound in the treatment of patients. Both technologies and very different disciplines have an extremely important role.

Prof Heidi Probst MBE is a trained clinical radiographer, director of the Health Research Institute at Sheffield Hallam University, Researcher and lecturer. Her specialist research areas include radiotherapy for breast cancer, radiotherapy workforce development, e-learning, and randomised controlled trials. She is the Principal Investigator on two breast cancer studies (The SuPPORT 4 All Project, and The Respire project) and also has lived experience of being diagnosed with, treated for and surviving breast cancer as she documented on her blog. She is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and was awarded an MBE in January of this year.

Dr Ian Rivens is a staff scientist at The Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) and Royal Marsden Hospital, UK. He has a background in biomedical physics and 35 experience of developing equipment and techniques in the laboratory and translating them to bed-side research via clinical trials in oncology and fetal medicine. He is a founding member of the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound with extensive experience of supervising PhD and MD students.