Working in medical physics: not your average career

For certain fields of physics, it can be tough to explain how the research has a direct benefit to society. That is never the case with medical physics – a career where you can apply a technical skillset to directly improve people’s everyday lives. In this episode of the Physics World Stories podcast, Andrew Glester catches up with three medical physicists from The Christie – the largest cancer hospital in Europe – to learn about their careers.

Heather Williams, the principal physicist in nuclear medicine at The Christie, speaks about some of the latest developments in positron emission tomography (PET). Williams also explains how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the working practices at the hospital, requiring some difficult decisions around risk management. Among other developments, clinical engineers have been working with industry to develop new systems to deliver oxygen to coronavirus patients.

Later in the podcast, you will also hear from Patricia Amata who is studying for a PhD in ultrasound modalities. Medical ultrasound is most commonly associated with the field of obstetrics, where it is used to generate images of the foetus developing in the womb. But this non-ionising form of imaging is used across the medical spectrum – from breast scans to neurology, and often as a way of calibrating other imaging techniques.

Finally, clinical scientist Imran Patel speaks about the Christie’s proton therapy centre, which has been treating patients since December 2018. Patel, who leads the proton therapy physics group, explains why proton therapy can offer benefits in certain circumstances, such as paediatric cases. Unlike photons and electrons, protons beams can deliver a radiation to a highly localized sites, minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

You can take a look inside the Christie’s proton therapy centre in this video produced in 2019.