Ian Paddick, Amethyst Physicist, to receive Fabrikant Award
We’re delighted to announce that Amethyst Physicist, Ian Paddick, recently received the esteemed Fabrikant Award in Milan at the ISRS Congress 2022. The Award is given every two years to an individual or individuals who are members of the International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society (ISRS), and have made longstanding and significant contributions to the field of radiosurgery.
On receiving the Award, Ian Paddick said, “I’m truly humbled to receive this award. It’s the first time a physicist has received the prize on their own and I’m also the first recipient from the UK. The award is usually given to radiation oncologists or neurosurgeons, but this year’s award demonstrates that physicists are valued by clinicians and make a significant contribution to shaping clinical practice”.
He went on to add, “I’ve published over 50 articles on stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and have been lucky to have my work on indices incorporated into all the major treatment planning systems. I’ve also been fortunate to visit and teach at over 100 Gamma Knife centres around the world, so my work really has a global reach. My current and future research is in radiobiology where I believe we can make significant improvements in the efficacy and consistency of treatments.”
Importantly, the winner of the Fabrikant Award is invited to give a ‘Fabrikant lecture’, which is then published as a paper in the ISRS Journal – the Journal of Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy . The winner also receives a grant of $5,000 and a commemorative certificate. During his lecture, Ian discussed ways to improve clinical research, encouraged attendees to question dogma which holds back the discipline of SRS, and highlighted aspects of work published such as the Paddick Conformity Index, Gradient Index and Efficiency Index and the importance of being able to standardise treatments so that centres can compare their data.
Ian was the first physicist to serve as president of the ISRS (2017-2019), and today he serves as an Ex-officio member of the board where he chairs the Certification Service. This Service provides the only in-person quality audit for SRS centres that is offered by a device agnostic organisation. This is an exciting initiative, which Ian hopes will raise the standard of SRS around the world. Two centres have been audited so far with the first, Koç University in Istanbul, receiving their certificate of quality in radiosurgery at the meeting in Milan.
