Over 100 clinical scientists, technicians and administrative staff are based on our two hospital sites. Many individuals within the department have national and international reputations within their field and sit on committees, contributing to the development of policy, guidelines and standards relevant to their specialist areas.
The medical physics department staff also teach and train medical, nursing and other clinical staff, in addition to a range of scientific and technical staff. A number of courses are offered in the safe use of ionising radiation, lasers and UV equipment.
Dr Keith Ison OBE, MA, MSc, MBA, PhD, FIPEM, CSci
Head of medical physics
Keith studied physics and material science at the University of Cambridge before training in medical physics in Hull. He completed a PhD in biomaterials in Bath, then worked in London as a postdoctoral researcher on cochlear implants in various NHS scientific roles.
He spent 10 years at Kings College Hospital before becoming head of medical physics at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in 2001 where he is responsible for a wide range of medical physics and clinical engineering activities and is the lead healthcare scientist. He is actively involved with the education and training of scientific and technical staff in healthcare and is an honorary senior lecturer at Kings College London. He is a past president of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and was awarded an OBE for leadership and development in healthcare sciences in 2012.
Sarah Allen, MSc, MIPEM, CSci
Head of nuclear medicine physics
Sarah has worked in as a clinical scientist in nuclear medicine for many years and has a very wide range of experience in all aspects of service provision. She has been head of the nuclear medicine physics team at Guy’s and St Thomas' for 10 years and over this time has developed numerous clinical scientists, many of whom remain within the team.
Sarah is the current Honorary Secretary of the British Nuclear Medicine Society and before this was a council member for many years. In her role as Honorary Secretary, Sarah takes a leading role in the development of guidelines, quality standards for the provision of the service and education of the workforce within the field of nuclear medicine physics. This role gives her a unique insight into the issues that face nuclear medicine nationally as well as access to a wide range of different service models and solutions. Sarah also has experience of supporting other NHS Trusts with nuclear medicine expertise.
Head of radiation safety
To be confirmed
Dr Andrew Coleman MSc, PhD, FIPEM, CSci, MBA
Head of non-ionising radiation
Andy has worked in the area of non-ionising radiation physics as a clinical scientist in the NHS for over 35 years. He played a leading role in developing an understanding of the mechanism of action of shock-wave lithotripsy and has published widely in ultrasound bioeffects and safety, holding numerous MRC and EPSRC grants for studies in this area.
He has acted as R&D lead for diagnostic and therapeutic services in Guy’s and St Thomas’ and chaired the Optical Radiation Measurement Group at the National Physical Laboratory for five years. He currently serves as an expert adviser to NICE in the area of confocal microscopy in dermatology.
In 1997 Andy established the first ISO17025 accredited equipment calibration laboratory within the NHS. This lab now serves most phototherapy centres in England, including the centre at Lewisham University Hospital. He is now a consultant physicist, heading one of the UK’s largest non-ionising radiation services and also a senior lecturer at King’s College London.
Andy holds an MBA at Imperial College, specialising in Health Service Innovation. He is an active member of the British Photodermatology Group and has many years’ practical experience of providing medical physics services to hospitals in London and the south east.
Professor Stephen Keevil MA, MSc, PhD, ARCP, Hon MRCR, FIPEM, FInstP, CPhys, CSci.
Head of magnetic resonance physics
Stephen Keevil holds an MA in physics from Oxford University, an MSc in medical physics from Surrey University and a PhD in NMR spectroscopy from the University of London. He trained as an NHS medical physicist, followed by a series of research and academic posts in MRI physics.
Prof Keevil is currently consultant physicist, head of MR physics and research and development lead for imaging at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Medical Physics at King’s College London. He is also joint director of KiTEC (King's Technology Evaluation Centre), a NICE External Assessment Centre for medical technologies, and Education and Training Lead for Imaging and Biomedical Engineering at the King's Health Partners AHSC.
Prof Keevil is a member of the safety committee of the European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology and a past chair of the Safety Study Group of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He represents the MRI community in discussions with the UK government and European Commission about safety and regulatory issues. He is past President of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), past President of the United Kingdom Radiological Congress (UKRC) and incoming chair of the national Clinical Imaging Board.
Peter Cook MEng, MIPEM, CEng CSci
Head of clinical engineering
Peter has 10 years’ experience as a clinical engineer, now an HCPC registered scientist, and four years’ prior experience in hospitals as a Biomedical Technician.
Peter's experience at Guy’s and St Thomas’ has included developing and implementing the Trust's medical device maintenance and training policies, including a lead role with the Trust's medical devices database used for governance of medical equipment inventory, service contracts and service records. He also has wide experience in meeting engineering standards for patient safety and regulation as well as technical support for prototype, in-house or modified medical equipment. He is the Trust MDSO (Medical Devices Safety Officer) with responsibility for dialogue with the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) and Trust's governance reporting for equipment via the Medical Devices Management Group.
In his previous experience Peter worked for two years in a hospital in Nigeria and he currently leads on equipment aspects of projects with GSTFT's link hospitals in Ndola, Zambia. Most recently this has included a two year project supporting Ndola technical staff, funded by the Tropical Health and Education Trust.