President Elect 2024
We have started the process to elect IPEM’s new President and voting members (i.e. a Fellow, Full or Associate Member), have a vote in that election. Following our recent call for nominations, two candidates have been properly nominated. Voting opened on Monday 10th June, when the candidates will be announced, and run until Monday 1st July.
We have contracted the services of Mi-Voice, an independent company, to run the process for us. Please look out for emails from Mi-Voice, which will include further details of the election.
Presidential Election Rules can be found here
The two candidates' statement are below (in alphabetical order).
Fiammetta Fedele
Dear colleagues,
May I introduce myself……
I have been a proud member of IPEM since 2004, when I started my first substantial non-research role as a NHS Band 5 technician. At the same time I completed part time my PhD in Medical Ultrasound, and prepared my portfolio to register as a Clinical Scientist via the ACS Route 2. Having been developing as a Clinical Scientist, and promoted up in roles of greater responsibilities, I am now a Consultant Clinical Scientist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the Research and Development Lead for the Directorate of Clinical Imaging and Medical Physics (including Medical Physics, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine) and King’s College London School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences.
In my career I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate closely with Engineers, Medical Physicists and Clinicians from the NHS, commercial sector and academia, supporting both Research and Transformation Projects for almost 25 years!
So I have quite a hybrid background which I feel enables me to identify with the different challenges you are all facing in your professional roles whether in the public or commercial sector.
I have volunteered for IPEM since 2012 in leadership roles such as SIG Secretary, Scientific Meetings organizer, including the past incarnation of “STEF”, ACS route 2 Advisor, ACS Assessor since 2024, STERIC Deputy Director since 2022, so I have a good working knowledge of how the organisation works.
In my role as a leading UK safety expert in Medical Ultrasound and Optical Radiation, I have gained a wealth of experience as a transformative leader, as a coach and as a trainer, and I feel my skillset can support well the current IPEM Strategy.
Why I would like to be President Elect of IPEM….
I am very passionate about the future of IPEM, and the future of our Profession, and I would love the opportunity to be able to support IPEM Transformation and Scientific Strategy as your President Elect, and build on the inclusion and diversity legacies of our previous and current Presidents.
I will approach the role of President Elect with a ‘growth mindset’, and take every opportunity to develop more in the role, working closely with the IPEM Leadership, Office and all our volunteer members to become the best President I can possibly be and dedicated to supporting you.
My heart is both in improving how we support our current members, across all professional levels and specialties, and in developing strategies to grow our membership. I would do this by taking a broad and inclusive view on who we would like to be counted as members, building on what has in my opinion been an exciting 8-10 years of transformation for the organisation.
Email: Fiammetta.Fedele@gstt.nhs.uk
Mark Knight
I would be honoured to be selected as IPEM President Elect and ensure that IPEM members’ interests are at the forefront of national planning and funding decisions. In my current role as Chief Healthcare Scientist at NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, I meet weekly with the Office of the Chief Scientific Officer and am supporting them with scoping their national strategy for Medical Physics. Combined with my long history of voluntary roles within IPEM, including Vice President Medical Physics, member of the Board of Trustees and Director of the Science, Research and Innovation Council, I understand how to best promote Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering (MPCE) professions.
Transformation of health and care services over the next decade will be driven by innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital and medical device technology. MPCE professionals, academics and commercial partners are uniquely placed to contextualise the risks and opportunities presented by these new technologies and should be leading in these transformation programmes. My priorities are as follows:
- Continually enhance education, training and workforce development programmes to meet our MPCE workforce challenges. Teaching and training programmes should provide skills in cutting edge science and technology, should be well funded and should utilise modern education facilities such as Virtual Reality and AI where appropriate. I would lead the engagement with national education and training institutions to influence this agenda and support IPEM in the development of its own programmes. I would ensure that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and accessibility considerations are at the heart of education and training programme development.
- Advocate for MPCE professionals to be at the forefront of clinical scientific input, research and innovation in national Cancer, Diagnostic and Therapy programmes and recommend this approach to Royal Colleges and NHS national bodies.
- Increase collaborative forums for MPCE professionals, academic institutions, government and commercial partners, to maximise opportunities for scientific development and funding. Over the past 3 years, I have set up collaborative online forums for Research and Innovation, and Healthcare Science.
Looking to the future is key to ensure MPCE professions are at the forefront of technological innovation. In my 30 years working in Medical Physics, I have delivered several strategic objectives for MPCE professions. For example, I spearheaded an IPEM campaign with HSE and government regulators to make amendments to the IRR2017 Approved Code of Practice. These amendments now provide the basis for reducing infrastructure costs for technologies such as flattening filter free and FLASH radiotherapy.
If elected, I would actively promote the MPCE national agenda and strive to put our current and future workforce at the forefront of future scientific development.
Email: markknight@nhs.net