UCL has recently announced that Julie Horrocks and Peter Marsden have been made Honorary Professors in the Department of Medical Physics & Bioengineering. They have been recognised as outstanding examples of individuals who have managed to combine being exceptional practitioners of their trade (radiation protection/X-ray imaging in both cases) with major contributions to research, teaching and training.

A brief synopsis of their careers follows:

Julie Horrocks is Head of Radiation Safety, Clinical Physics, Barts and The London NHS Trust. She took what is now the UCL MSc in Radiation Physics in the days when it was run by The Middlesex/Bart's, and continued at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School as a Research Assistant, obtaining a PhD (The application of dual energy techniques in digital ionography) in 1988. She worked for two years at IGE Medical Systems in Radlett in the Detector Engineering Group (Nuclear Medicine Systems) and joined St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1990. Julie has collaborated with Professor Robert Speller and his group at UCL on a number of different research projects, in particular in the application of energy dispersive x-ray diffraction techniques to both medical and security imaging problems, since 1994. Joint funding has been gained from the Home Office for research into the use of this technique and for other projects including Compton Camera evaluation and tomosynthesis in security imaging. She lectures on the UCL "MSc in Radiation Physics", covering topics on radiation protection, radiation interactions and radiation dosimetry. She is an honorary member of the Royal College of Radiologists.

Peter Marsden is Head of Medical Physics and Bioengineering at UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he also heads the Radiation Physics section. He also took the Middlesex/Barts MSc, and continued at Barts as a Research Assistant, obtaining a PhD  (Perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy of biologically significant In-111 compounds) in 1989. After 3 years continuing this research as a post-doc, and a spell in radiation protection at Manchester Royal Infirmary, he joined UCLH in 1992.

Having been immersed in the radiation protection aspects of the PFI redevelopment at UCLH, Peter has been involved in other PFI projects in the UK and is currently enjoying a collaboration with Julie on the Barts/London PFI. He is a past member and chairman of the IPEM Radiation Protection SIG and is an IPEM Director on the Board of RPA2000. He is a Fellow of the Society for Radiological Protection and a past chairman of their Medical Sectorial Committee. Peter is currently a member of COMARE, the National Dose Assessment Working Group, the Small Users Liaison Group and the Programme Board developing the UK Strategy for Radioactive Discharges from Non-Nuclear Industries.