Meet the team (MRI physics)

Angela is the head of MRI physics and the Trust MR safety expert. She is also the lead for imaging research at UHS.

Her role includes supporting both the clinical MRI service (service development, QA and MRI safety, as the MR safety expert for the Trust), and supporting research projects utilising MRI, from UHS and the University of Southampton (UoS), thus covering a wide range of applications.

As lead for imaging research at UHS she has strategic oversight of imaging research within Southampton and regionally and is also the imaging lead for the Southampton NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

A large component of Angela’s work in Southampton has been concerned with applying and developing advanced neurological MRI techniques, for research and clinical purposes. She has also acquired specialist knowledge in many areas of MRI, including musculoskeletal MRI, the assessment of body and liver fat using MRI, and MRI-based iron quantification.

She also supervises trainees and students, both for their professional qualifications in medical physics and for academic activities. She has a range of teaching commitments, which include providing FRCR (Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists) part 1 teaching in MRI physics, teaching on the medical physics option of the University of Southampton BSc Physics course and contributing to the MSc course in Biomedical Engineering, also at the University of Southampton.

Externally, she chairs the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) imaging research delivery working group, sits on the NIHR Imaging National Specialty Group and acts as South Central Regional Research Delivery Network (RRDN) Imaging Specialty Lead. She has just finished her term of being a member of the MRI physics special interest group of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), and helps chair the UK heads of MR physics group and also chairs the NHS MRI physics workforce planning and development working party for IPEM. She has a longstanding interest in developing MRI physics as a visible, valued, appropriately resourced and sustainable specialism within the NHS healthcare science workforce.

Geoffrey is deputy lead for MRI physics. He is currently responsible for co-ordinating the MRI QA programme at the hospitals we cover, performs a range of teaching activities (including for our large radiographer population), contributes to following up safety enquiries, and is involved in several clinical and research projects. These include developing the use of MRI for radiotherapy planning at UHS, investigating MRI measures of perfusion in newborn babies who have suffered hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, exploring use of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI for predicting stability of intracranial aneurysms, and applications of magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Mobeen is a principal clinical scientist. He is responsible for delivering MR safety training to various staff groups through the online interactive learning system, and contributes to safety queries, implant checking and risk assessing patients with implants for MRI scanning. He is involved in several clinical and research projects, including quantitative susceptibility mapping in monitoring superficial siderosis and for delineating the thalamic nuclei, in measuring the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on functional connectivity of the locus coeruleus and in applying machine learning to predict outcomes of babies who have suffered hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.

Yukai is a trainee clinical scientist with interests in diffusion-weighted imaging and imaging informatics. He is actively working towards HCPC registration through the ACS route to clinical scientist training pathway. He is currently responsible for performing MRI quality assurance procedures, assisting the development of clinical MRI services, and providing support and direction for the R&D activities of our team. His research focuses on developing MRI biomarkers for assessing patency of cerebrospinal fluid in hydrocephalus patients. In addition, his research extends to unravelling the factors that drive progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.