IPEM Celebrates Prize and Awards Winners
Gold Medal Awards
IPEM's Gold Medals are awarded for outstanding contributions to practice at a national leading or internationally competitive level. These medals reward contributions in three key areas, Academia, Healthcare and Innovation.
Academic Gold Medal Azzam Taktak
"I am truly honoured and deeply humbled to receive the IPEM Gold Medal for Academic Achievements. Over my 32-year career, I have cultivated a passion for research and teaching within the NHS. I am driven by research that advances our understanding of healthcare, and teaching that inspires the next generation of scholars. I've had the privilege of working alongside brilliant minds who have consistently pushed the boundaries of knowledge and innovation. I am grateful for the opportunities, the challenges, and the people who’ve been part of this incredible journey."
Healthcare Gold Award Chris Walker
I was absolutely delighted to find that I had been nominated for the Healthcare Gold Medal and I am now thrilled and surprised to have actually been awarded it. I retired from my clinical post as Head of Radiotherapy Physics for the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in March of this year, so this award feels like the perfect end to my clinical career as it demonstrates that I have earned the respect of the peers that I value so much... Whilst this is a personal award I feel that I am accepting on behalf of the individuals and teams that I have had the good fortune to work with over the years as it is through their support that I have been able to free up the time necessary to contribute the national committees and groups that I have been part of. I must also recognise the role of the clinical leaders that have been instrumental in providing environments in which both my teams and I could all grow and thrive in our professional careers.
Innovation Gold Medal Malcolm Sperrin
The receipt of an award is always great, but one that reflects a lifetime of work and endeavour is all the more rewarding. People enter professions in healthcare science for what it brings to patient benefit and seeing improvements that result from our activities is reward enough with accolades being almost incidental but the point often missed is that an independent panel of the great and good have identified where activities are worthy of additional recognition. Having worked in medical physics since 1990, I often felt that such awards are beyond me but opportunity and luck are strange drivers and here I find myself at the tail end of my career receiving such an award. During my time working as a scientific professional, I must have encountered and worked with hundreds of scientists, clinicians and, of course, patients and without such contact, much of our endeavours would not bear fruit. It is to those whose paths I have crossed that recognition must also be given.
There remains a strong ambition on my part to encourage and perhaps guide those in healthcare science and to provide a stimulus for this and similar awards and proper recognition that reflects the enormous benefit that the sciences bring to care. One thing that I am certain of is that the necessity of science to be utilised has never been greater or more urgent with innovations, collaborations and research providing rich pickings. I remain enthusiastic to continue my engagement and invite anyone so minded to reach out to me or via IPEM.
These medals reward those in the first 12 years of their career who have made significant contributions to practice at a nationally competitive and leading level in three key areas: Academia, Healthcare and Innovation
Academic Early Career Award Matthew Birkbeck
I am honoured to receive the 2024 IPEM Early Career Academic Award in recognition of my scientific contributions to the field of Medical Physics, in particular my PhD at Newcastle University which focussed on the development of a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarker in neuromuscular disorders.
Personally, winning this award is a not only a validation of the years of hard work which has gone into developing this technique, but it will also allow me to further my career, helping me to secure a research fellowship to take this work to the next phase for the benefit of patients living with neuromuscular diseases.
Furthermore, over my career to date IPEM has provided me with a number of great opportunities, from conference attendance, travel bursaries and most recently I joined the IPEM MRI specialist interest group and look forward to working with them to further the profession.
Healthcare Early Career Award Anna Stec
Winning the IPEM Healthcare Early Career Award is a tremendous honour that makes me feel genuinely appreciated by the professional community. I am profoundly grateful to those who gave me a chance, believed in me, and provided opportunities that helped me reach this point—especially Ruth Thomsen, my mentor and dear friend, whose support has been invaluable. This recognition affirms my dedication to making a meaningful impact within the NHS, improving patient outcomes, and contributing to IPEM through volunteer work. I hope this achievement will inspire more women, particularly those from abroad considering a career in the UK, to pursue their passions in science and engineering. My journey within the NHS has been incredibly fulfilling, and I am more motivated than ever to continue on this path.
Roy Ellis Patient Benefit Award John McLean
The Roy Ellis Patient Benefit Award is awarded to any member for a specific piece of work or project that benefits patients. This may be directly, for example, designing a novel device or indirectly, for example, producing an information leaflet or providing advice on a website.
"I have been a clinical scientist specialising in MRI in Scotland over the last two decades. MR safety is one of the fundamental parts of the role of a clinical scientist and I’ve always felt this was more about enabling people to get scanned safely rather than not performing scans. In that respect I think we’ve shown clinical scientists can add value to imaging departments by supporting radiography and radiology colleagues to improve patient access to MRI.
To receive an award is quite embarrassing though this is made somewhat less so, by reflecting on the support of colleagues who have contributed to this work. The notion of setting up a website to share our departmental advice was something I pinched off my urodynamics colleague, Doug Small. My MRI colleagues in Glasgow were supportive of the idea and have also contributed to this work, as have my colleagues across NHS Scotland. Thanks to them all."
Spiers Prize for Outreach Omran Darr
This award is given to any member who can demonstrate how they have improved education or raised awareness of Medical Physics and Engineering.
"I feel honoured to be given this prestige Spiers' Award for Outreach and to be part of such a special group of people who have been given this award in previous years.
I am the Apprenticeship Lead for the Medical Physics and Engineering Department here at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. My role mainly involves recruitment, training, and the development of Medical Engineering Apprentices. I find my role challenging but I am proud that I have been able to reach out to the local community, the local schools, and the local colleges to try and inspire the next generation of clinical technologists."
Seedcorn Fund Innovation Grant
This fund is designed to provide IPEM members with an opportunity to work with interdisciplinary teams to take early-phase development of new and innovative research projects leading to the submission of large, externally funded research.
"Prof Verhaegen and his team love to work with, and also invent, novel equipment for radiotherapy. We think the IPEM Inter-Disciplinary Seedcorn Innovation grant is ideally suited to provide the proof of concept for novel methods, which then may result in larger research grants at the next stage, and eventually, clinical translation.
We are truly honoured to have received the IPEM award, which will enable us to use methods derived from imaging of the solar wind in earth’s atmosphere to proton radiotherapy."
Translational Knowledge Innovation Grant Virginia Marin Anaya
This fund is designed to empower an IPEM member to link with a translational academic, industry or clinical partner. The aim is to provide experience in an alternative sector, enabling the translation of skills and knowledge from one area of practice to another.
"Virginia is a Clinical Scientist in the Medical Physics department at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is a member of the IPEM AI Group, BIR Radiation Safety Group, NIHR Innovation Fellow (Cohort 2), Topol Digital Fellow (Cohort 4), and STEM Ambassador.
I am delighted to have been awarded the IPEM Innovation Grant for the project “implementation of ultrasound elastography quality assurance programme: a collaboration between the Institute of Cancer Research and the NHS.” Ultrasound elastography is a non-invasive imaging technique that provides information about the elasticity of tissues. It is mainly used for breast and liver imaging and has the potential to detect abnormalities and aid diagnosis."