MRI scan pioneer has died, aged 94
British medical physicist professor John Mallard, who pioneered the development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology, has died aged 94.
The University of Aberdeen announced the death of its inaugural professor of medical physics, who led an Aberdeen team in building the first whole-body MRI scanner, which Aberdeen clinicians were then able to use to carry out the world’s first full-body scan of a patient.
Today, MRI technology is used all over the world in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, dementia and a wide range of other conditions and injuries.
Prof Mallard was also an early champion of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging, which can produce detailed threedimensional images of the inside of the body and is one of the world’s most powerful tools for studying human diseases.
In 1992, professor Mallard was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. He was also awarded the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 2004.
Professor Siladitya Bhattacharya, head of the University of Aberdeen’s School of Medicine, said: “It is no understatement to say that hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide have benefited from his vision for medical imaging.”
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