The MR physics group supports a wide range of MR scanning activities at The Christie. The radiology department has 1 3T and 3 1.5T scanners and offers clinical imaging for patient diagnosis, routine follow up post-cancer treatment, and radiotherapy treatment planning.
The unique Elekta Unity MR-Linac, which combines a linear accelerator and MR scanner, enables a patient to have 1.5T MR imaging and adaptive radiotherapy treatment on the same machine, in the same appointment. The proton beam therapy centre at The Christie has a 1.5T MR scanner to assist proton beam therapy treatment planning.
In addition to our comprehensive routine clinical scientist support, the MR physics group provides additional support for the MR for radiotherapy (MR-RT) services at the trust via extensive system QA and service review. There is ongoing work to ensure MR imaging for external beam radiotherapy treatment planning meets the recommendations in the IPEM topical report. We provide support for MR-RT sequence and QA services both within the trust and externally across the region.
The MR physics group is actively involved in novel MR research, primarily through strong links to the Radiotherapy Related Research group at The University of Manchester. This research focuses on the development of MR techniques for guiding the delivery of radiotherapy and evaluating therapy response. The group has a strong track record with oxygen-enhanced (OE) MRI for RT, dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI and diffusion MRI, on standard MR scanners and the MR-Linac. This research forms part of the Radiotherapy BioAdaption theme within the Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre, and the functional imaging adaptation programme within the Manchester Biomedical Research Centre.
The MR physics group provides support to many NHS trusts throughout the North West of England. Support is tailored to the individual needs of each department. This unique position allows best practice to be shared throughout the region, including high level support to individual NHS trusts during the development of new local services.
Key elements of our service include:
- Ensuring MR department compliance with the Control of Electromagnetic Fields at Work (CEMFAW) Regulations 2016
- Provision and regular update of all necessary MR Safety Framework documentation and implant policies
- MRSE services from our team of expert MR clinical scientists (including IPEM certified, and MRSCTM certified MRSEs)
- Support with documentation to obtain and retain Imaging Services Accreditation from UKAS
- MR safety procedures for complex services such as the scanning of patients with unapproved cardiac implanted electronic devices, with off-label medical devices and MR scanning of patients under general anaesthetic
- Expert input to ensure that imaging protocols are optimised for both acquisition time and image quality, including extensive experience of MR advanced acceleration technology (AAT) implementation
- Specialist support with site planning and scanner specification when replacing, upgrading or installing additional MR equipment
- Acceptance testing of any new equipment
- Investigation of MR safety incidents
- Ensuring the QA requirements of the NHSBSP Report 68 guidance are met for sites offering MR screening scans for women at higher risk of breast cancer
This is achieved through regular on-site, in-person visits to each department across the region. We also provide remote support via email, and video or phone calls for urgent queries. We regularly review our practice to develop and improve the service we offer to MR departments, and their patients, through audit and continuing professional development (CPD).
The MR physics group has played a major role in the NHS England Improvement (NHSEI) MRI advanced acceleration technology (AAT) rollout in the North West of England. We have supported many trusts in achieving significant gains in imaging capacity in MR. Our large MR physics group is ideally placed to lead and support projects such as this across the North West Imaging Networks.
The MR group has a strong tradition of delivering excellent MR safety and MR physics teaching. CMPE are the leading accredited training centre in the region for the training of new clinical scientists via the NHS Scientist Training Program (STP) and contribute to the development of clinical scientists on the Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) national program via teaching and academic supervision. We have a lead role in delivering training to provide the MR physics workforce required across the North West Imaging Networks.
In addition to STP and HSST, our teaching, training and outreach activities include:
- Postgraduate teaching at the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Cumbria for MR radiographers and healthcare scientists
- Development and delivery of the Corsmed MR Radiographer upskilling course for the North West Imaging Academy
- Teaching on the FRCR programme for radiologists
- Regular, tailored MR safety and MR physics talks for MR radiographer colleagues across the region and nationally, in addition to the customer learning hub below
- Online customer learning hub where we host a wide variety of training material for radiology staff across the region
- Regular customer newsletter containing important MR safety and MR physics updates and educational material
- Outreach and public engagement to highlight the work of medical physicists in healthcare
Across the MR group, we are involved with professional bodies and national activities including:
- External advisor for IPEM Clinical Scientist Guided Training Scheme
- Association of Clinical Scientists (ACS) assessor for route 2 training scheme
- National working parties and task and finish groups, e.g. membership of IPEM MR for RT working party and STERIC, the IPEM Science, Technology and Engineering Research and Innovation Council
- Co-chair of the IPEM Advanced Acceleration Technology Task and Finish Group and responsible for a valuable online resource for this technology (MR Advanced Acceleration Technology - IPEM)
- North West Imaging Academy Governance Board membership
- Contributing articles to trade magazines such as SCOPE and Radmag
- IPEM MRSE Portfolio Assessor
These voluntary roles bring huge benefits for both group members and the customers we support and ensure the MR group are closely involved in developing the profession and informing national policy making.
Steve Jackson – consultant clinical scientist
Steve is a consultant clinical scientist and the group leader of the imaging with non-ionising section at The Christie. Steve completed the NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP) with the MR group in 2018, following a BSc (Hons) in maths and physics and an MSc in theoretical physics. He took over leading the group in 2024.
His current work involves leading the MR physics group through an ever-changing landscape and developing MR physics support services within the North West Imaging Networks. Steve has a strong track record teaching MR physics and MR safety, including significant input into the design of the ‘Clinical MRI’ CPD module at the University of Liverpool and the Corsmed MR simulator course in collaboration with the North West Imaging academy. In April 2022, he became an IPEM certified MR Safety Expert (MRSCTM).
Dr Judith Kilgallon – principal clinical scientist
Judith joined The Christie as a trainee clinical scientist having completed her degree in Physics from the University of Leeds and PhD in Experimental Nuclear Structure Physics from The University of Manchester. Judith leads the support of our trainee clinical scientists and is heavily involved with the group’s teaching activities. Her clinical work stretches across much of the group’s regional service.
Michael Dubec – principal clinical scientist
Michael joined the MR group in 2014 after completing a BSc (Hons) in Physics, an MSc in Medical Radiation Physics and an MSc in Clinical Science (Medical Physics) as part of the NHS Scientist Training Programme. In addition to his clinical duties, Michael is heavily involved with developing MR for radiotherapy planning, guidance and assessing treatment response and was co-author of the IPEM national guidance on MR for radiotherapy treatment planning. He is also currently undertaking a part-time PhD entitled ‘Optimising oxygen-enhanced MRI biomarkers of hypoxia for use in advanced radiotherapy’.
Dr James Harkin – principal clinical scientist
James started working at The Christie in summer 2022. James' interest in MR began during their undergraduate physics degree, after which they undertook a PhD in MRI, focussing on hyperpolarised respiratory MRI. Later, James moved to working in the NHS at University Hospitals Dorset, where they achieved HCPC registration through route 2, as well as IPEM MR Safety Expert Certification. James is also a member of the STERIC, IPEM's strategic council, which oversees scientific, academic, innovation and research activities.
Guy Drabble – principal clinical scientist
Guy originally joined The Christie back in 2014 on the medical physics STP, having completed a degree in physics with particle physics and cosmology. He completed his training in 2017, specialising in radiotherapy and gaining his MSc in Clinical Science (Medical Physics).
Guy briefly left The Christie in 2019 to work in the education sector. Working at The University of Manchester, he helped to run the academic section of the Higher Specialist Scientist Training (HSST) programme. Guy has used this experience to develop the Corsmed MR Simulator course in collaboration with the North West Imaging Academy.
Rachael Franklin – principal clinical scientist
Rachael joined the group in 2023 from Guy’s and St Thomas’ in South London where she completed the Scientist Training Program (STP) between 2019-2022. Whilst there, she also supported the fetal cardiac MRI service, led computing support to the team, and supported rotational STP training. Prior to her training in medical physics, she worked at Metaswitch, testing networking and automation software.
Rachael will be providing clinical support to a number of sites across the North West region.
Dr David Buckley – honorary MR physicist
David joined the group in July 2020. He is seconded to the group part-time from his job at the University of Leeds as a Professor of Medical Physics specialising in MRI. David’s role at The Christie is to support MRI in the radiology department (both clinical practice and research) and to support studies on the MR simulator in the proton beam therapy centre and the MR-Linac.
David has a wealth of experience in MRI research, having obtained his PhD in MRI back in the previous century. Between 1999 and 2008, he worked for The University of Manchester where he was involved in several studies at The Christie and acted as a PhD supervisor.
Chris Moore – clinical scientist
Chris completed an undergraduate physics degree at The University of Manchester. After a brief time as a software engineer, he successfully applied for the Scientist Training Programme (STP) in medical physics. He completed the programme in September 2021 and has taken on a clinical role in the MR group.
Chris splits his time between regional physics support and providing research support to the Radiotherapy Related Research group, with research interests including image registration, quantitative MR imaging biomarkers and longitudinal quantitative quality assurance of DWI images.
Dr Damien McHugh – MR physicist
Damien joined the MR group in January 2021. He is currently working towards acquiring his HCPC registration, having completed a PhD at The University of Manchester. His research was mainly focused on diffusion-weighted imaging and his PhD thesis was entitled ’The effect of tumour microstructure on diffusion-weighted MRI measurements'.
Damien has a 50/50 split role within the group, dedicating half of his time to providing clinical MR support to our regional sites and utilising his strong academic background for the other half by supporting radiotherapy-related MR research at The Christie.
Asher Ezekiel – clinical scientist
Asher joined the MR group through the Scientist Training Program (STP) and completed his training in 2023. He has since taken on a clinical role providing physics support to sites across the North West and supporting the MR for radiotherapy services at The Christie and Salford. Before joining the STP, Asher completed his undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Birmingham. He then moved to London to join a publishing company where he worked for a leading online science journal and completed an MSc in Astrophysics at Queen Mary, University of London.
Hanna Hanson – MR physicist
Hanna joined the group in July 2023 and is working towards HCPC registration through route 2. Prior to this she undertook a PhD in the University of Manchester Radiotherapy Related Research group. Her research focused on respiratory motion management on the MR-linac and she has recently submitted her thesis entitled ‘Methods for fast and accurate MR-guided lung radiotherapy’. Her role in the MR physics group is split between providing clinical MR support and conducting MR research at The Christie.
Dr Sam Curley – clinical scientist
Sam started at The Christie in 2021 and completed the Scientist Training Programme (STP) in 2024. He has since taken up a clinical role within the group, where his responsibilities include providing site-specific MR safety support, delivering physics teaching, and working on clinical MR pulse-sequence optimisation across various sites in the North West of England.
Before joining The Christie, Sam completed a physics PhD at the University of Warwick, focusing on the study of low-dimensional magnetic materials under extreme conditions, such as low temperatures, high magnetic fields, and high pressures.
Peter Latimer – trainee clinical scientist
Peter joined the MR group through the medical physics STP and is in the specialist part of his training. In 2020, he received his MPhys (Hons) in Theoretical Physics at the University of Manchester and went on to complete a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PDGE) while working as a science teacher at a local secondary school.
Joe Bradley - trainee clinical scientist
Joe joined the MR group as part of the Scientist Training Programme (STP) specialising in Imaging with non-ionising Radiation and is in the specialist stage of his training. Joe has a BSc (Hons) in Theoretical Physics from the University of Hull, where he undertook a year-long placement at the Science and Technology Facilities Council researching Tomographic Imaging using Neutron beams.
Joe went on to complete a MRes in Medical Imaging at Nottingham Trent University, focusing on Oxygen Enhanced MRI at Queen's Medical Centre. Joe since spent a year at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre working on CEST-MRI at 7T, before joining the STP at The Christie.
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