AI Group

Mission statement

Support, promote and facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration with the work and skills of Medical Physicists and Clinical Engineers for the safe, ethical and effective use of AI in healthcare.

AI in Healthcare: the role of MPCEs

We must ensure the healthcare science community – at all career stages – has the skills to keep up with digital, technological and scientific change. Skills to invent, innovate, adopt and transform are the essence of science and engineering, but formal procedures must be broadened to embrace change. The extensive skills held by medical physicists and clinical engineers in this field need to be used and shared with the wider healthcare community, for instance in the commissioning of new AI software. This is also essential to ensure the ethical management of AI and, indeed, other rapidly developing technologies.

The key challenges here are ensuring that the existing workforce has the skills to fully embrace complex digital systems, and that training programmes prepare the scientists, technologists and engineers of the future without compromising their core learning. Digital skills are in high demand in almost all areas, so healthcare sciences must be promoted effectively to attract and retain talent.

In the same way that ‘safety by design’ has been adopted as an industry standard for other medical devices, standards for the safe, ethical and effective design and delivery of AI and machine learning must be agreed. This is particularly critical to healthcare. For the workforce, it is important to establish clear lines of responsibility. Dedicated staff, such as Health Informatics Clinical Scientists or Clinical and Scientific Computing Clinical Scientists, must be involved in ensuring the safety of implemented AI.

Our Goals as a Group

Through four strategic work streams, we're tackling the challenges with practical action. Our four key workstreams are:

• Providing teaching and training
• Producing guidance, publication reviews and position statements
• Encouraging and facilitating collaboration across SIGs and with external organisations
• Increasing awareness of the MPCE profession and the role they can play in AI in healthcare

Who are we?

The AI group is comprised of medical physicists and clinical engineers working across academia, industry, the NHS and representatives from government bodies and other professional organisations. We have representation from numerous specialisms including clinical scientific computing, nuclear medicine, clinical engineering, radiotherapy, diagnostic radiology and radiation protection with a range in breadth and depth of experiences in the field of AI.

Getting in touch

To get in touch, please contact our group chair, Richard Meades, vice chair, Jon Taylor or Jen Cannon, IPEM’s Professional knowledge and Innovation Manager.

Chair: Richard Meades, Principal Clinical Scientist in Nuclear Medicine, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Vice Chair: Dr. Jonathan Taylor, Principal Clinical Scientist in Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals

Secretary: Lydia Davidson, Medical Physicist Trainee in Imaging Physics, Royal United Hospitals Bath

IPEM Professional Knowledge and Innovation Manager: Jen Cannon, IPEM

Members:

Dr Paul Doolan, General Co-ordinator of Medical Physics, German Oncology Centre, Limassol

Dr Nicholas Vennart, Head of Nuclear Medicine Physics, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Alison Starke, Principal Clinical Scientist in Radiotherapy, Barts Health NHS Trust

Daniel Darian, Molecular Imaging Collaborations Scientist, Siemens Healthineers

Dr James Allen Leighs, Deputy Head of Scientific Computing & AI Lea, University Hospital Southampton

Virginia Marin Anaya, Clinical Scientist, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

David Grainger, IDAP Medical Devices Specialist, MRHA

Anna Stec, Senior Project Manager, NHS England

Sofia Michopoulou, Head of Nuclear Medicine Physicist, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Dr James McLaughlan, Associate Professor, University of Leeds

Links and Resources

To learn more about the current state of AI in healthcare we recommend taking a look at the NHS AI Lab homepage and the Health Education England report on ‘The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)’. These pages give an excellent starting point to understand the challenges regarding safe procurement, implementation, and adoption of clinical and non-clinical AI tools in healthcare settings.