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Biography

Since my retirement in October 2021, I have been an Emeritus Professor at the ºÚÁÏÍø. I previously held a Chair in Biomedical Physics at the University (2002-21), where I researched and taught MRI Physics, starting when I joined Jim Hutchison’s team in 1983.

My research was concerned with the development of MRI technology and its bio-medical applications, most recently in the area of Fast Field-Cycling MRI, which was pioneered by the group that I led. Whereas standard MRI scanners operate at a single magnetic field (e.g. 1.5 T or 3 T), FFC scanners have the ability to switch magnetic field rapidly during a scan, thereby obtaining information on the variation of the NMR relaxation times with magnetic field strength. Results indicate that this can provide a valuable new contrast mechanism for clinical MRI.

During my career I obtained research grants totalling over £11.1m as Principal Investigator. In 2015 a consortium of seven research laboratories and two companies, coordinated by me, secured €6.60m (£5.92m) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 scheme to develop FFC-MRI as a clinical imaging modality; the “IDentIFY” project ran for 4 years from January 2016.

I have given over 100 invited, keynote and plenary lectures at conferences and workshops world-wide. I am author of 94 peer-reviewed papers, 8 book chapters as well as 291 conference abstracts.

My CV can be found here and my bibliography is available here.

External Memberships

I was Chair of the Communications and Publications Committee of (EFOMP) from January 2020 to February 2022.

Prizes and Awards

In 2017 I was awarded the Academic Gold Medal of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).
In 2021 I was awarded Senior Fellowship of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM).
In 2022 I was given an Honorary Doctorate (D.Univ., honoris causa) by the University of the Highlands and Islands.