Congratulations to two of our researchers, who have been recognized for their innovations in physics in medicine. Emily Hewson and Dr Tess Reynolds have each been given top awards by the American Association for Physics in Medicine (AAPM), and as a result their research will be under the spotlight at the world’s largest medical physics conference this winter.
Dr Tess Reynolds has won the Jack Fowler Early-Career Investigator Competition for her work to improve the way we can image the spine during surgery. To cross-check the accuracy and success of certain spinal procedures, a 2D image of a small section of the spine is taken during surgery.
Tess has developed a way to take an image that covers up to 5x more of the length of the spine, in 3D, to supplement the standard 2D images. This novel imaging modality could drastically reduce the necessity for repeat procedures, which are commonly needed in spinal surgery. The work arose from an academic-industry partnership between the University of Sydney, Johns Hopkins University and Siemens Healthcare.
“The academic side of the collaboration with Johns Hopkins was formed during the height of the pandemic last year, so its really exciting to see how far this work has been able to come and to be recognised by the AAPM in such a short and strange period of time.”, says Tess.
PhD Candidate Emily Hewson received the Best in Physics award for her abstract titled Real-Time Dose-Optimized Multi-Target MLC Tracking for Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer. This work was funded by Cancer Council NSW. Emily’s world-unique software brings us closer towards treating multiple tumours simultaneously with radiation. This technology would improve Radiation Therapy for hundreds of thousands of patients with locally advanced prostate, lung or liver cancer.
Tess and Emily’s submissions were judged in the top 1% of all submissions, an outstanding achievement.
“Each year the Image X Institute has a strong presence at the conference, but to see two incredible young women receiving such high accolades early in their academic careers makes 2021 that much more exciting.” says Professor Paul Keall, Director of the ACRF Image X Institute.
