New IPEM President sets out agenda for change
THE Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine has announced Dr Robert Farley as its new President.
Dr Farley succeeded Professor Stephen O’Connor as President at the IPEM Annual General Meeting on 20 September, which took place online.
IPEM is the professional body and charity representing more than 4,800 medical physicists, clinical and bio-medical engineers and clinical technologists from across public and private sector healthcare, academia and industry who play vital roles in delivering healthcare through physics and engineering.
He said: ‘I am thrilled to become IPEM President and consider it a great honour be able to serve in this role. I look forward to working with members and the national office team to improve health through physics and engineering in medicine.
‘The next several years will bring transformations in medical physics and clinical engineering and technology that will transform how our members work and help us to improve the health of our patients. Looking after our patients and looking after our members are mutually beneficial aims – and by working together we can effect greater change. Our new strategy IPEM 2025 lays out how we will do it. By driving transformative professional development, creating a genuine community across the professions, with a real focus on EDI issues, and by taking up visible leadership positions on behalf of our members on the issues that matter most to them.’
Dr Farley is Head of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He obtained a D. Phil in Chemistry from the University of York and spent more than a decade in academic research working mainly in the UK and Switzerland in the field of electron magnetic resonance and particularly in using electron-nuclear double resonance spectroscopy to determine molecular structural information from disordered systems. During this time, he developed an interest in education and completed an in-service PGCert in Higher Education at the University of the West of England.
In 2003 Dr Farley commenced his training as a Clinical Scientist in medical physics and subsequently worked as a radiotherapy physicist in several organisations before starting in his current role in March 2021. He has maintained his interest in education throughout his career and is an associate lecturer at Newcastle University, an external examiner for the University of Manchester and has been closely involved in the development of the level 7 Clinical Scientist apprenticeship standard.
Dr Farley has been involved with IPEM for several years including a term as Director of the Professional and Standards Council and as a member of the working party on the certification of existing Medical Physics Experts under the IR(ME)R 2017 legislation. He is currently a member of the Prizes and Awards Panel and acts as a Science Council registration assessor and as a LGBTQ Network Mentor.
IPEM’s Chief Executive, Phil Morgan said: ‘We are really pleased to welcome Rob as President and look forward to working with him closely over the coming years.
‘IPEM is a vital platform and natural professional home for a range of medical engineering and clinical engineering scopes of practice which helps them to come together and share their work, their expertise and their needs on behalf of physicists, engineers and technologists working in medicine across public and private sectors. I have no doubt that Rob’s vast knowledge and experience in the sector will ensure that the strong IPEM leadership we have enjoyed over the last few years under his predecessor Professor O’Connor will continue.
‘This appointment ensures that IPEM will thrive in its mission to transform health through physics and engineering in medicine.’