Promising work in the field of radiology is recognised through BIR awards
The British Institute of Radiology made a number of presentations to deserving recipients during its annual congress in September.
The BIR/Siemens Research Award was presented to clinical oncologist at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre Dr Kevin Chiu for a project to move towards fully automated adaptive radiotherapy in head and neck cancer. This research bursary is awarded in memory of Sir James Mackenzie Davidson, a pioneer in British radiology. It provides initial financial support to enable researchers to develop proposals with the aim of attracting further funding from external sources. The research must be in the fields of radiology, radiotherapy, oncology, radiography or medical physics.
Consultant radiologist Professor Ferdia Gallagher at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge received the BIR/MRRA New Technologies Award, for the development of hyperpolarised carbon-13 MRI as a clinical tool.
Funded by reserves donated by the former Magnetic Resonance Radiologists Association, this prize is awarded for a novel technological development in imaging and its related sciences or for the clinical application of a new technology. Applications from all disciplines are eligible for consideration for the prize and are considered biannually.
The BIR Nic McNally Award was given to two equally deserving recipients this year.
PhD student at the University of Leicester Christian Cooper was selected for the paper entitled ‘Comet assay profiling of FLASH-induced damage: mechanistic insights into the FLASH effect’. Research fellow at Queen’s University Belfast Dr Victoria Dunne received the award for the paper entitled ‘Impact of DNA-repair gene mutations on radiobiological and immune response to radium-223 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer’.
The Nic McNally prize for cancer research was established from funds raised by friends, colleagues and BIR staff in memory of Dr Nic McNally, who was a long serving honorary editor of the British Journal of Radiology and president-elect of the BIR before his death in 1991.
Lead picture: Consultant radiologist Professor Ferdia Gallagher receives his award from BIR past president Dr Sri Redla (right).
Published on page 10 of the November 2022 issue of RAD Magazine.