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Medical physics and bioengineering underpin much of the practice of modern medicine. It was the development of radiotherapy in the 1930s that first led to the employment of physicists in hospitals on a regular basis.

In the 1950s, the contributions that could be made by physics and engineering became more apparent with the advent of radionuclide techniques and the beginnings of instrumentation development, rehabilitation engineering and research into the applications of biomaterials.

Nowadays, physicists and engineers are involved in a vast range of activities in health care. They design, make and maintain aids for disabled people, systems for physiological measurement in anaesthetic, intensive care and other environments, imaging scanners, precision surgical instruments and medical robots, to name but a few. They are responsible for the measurements and calculations that make radiotherapy safe and effective. Many of the most remarkable advances in medicine can be traced back to the work of physicists and engineers. For example, much of the pioneering research into radionuclide scanning, ultrasonic imaging, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, functional electrical stimulation, image-guided surgery, anaesthetic monitoring and three-dimensional radiotherapy planning was done in laboratories in the United Kingdom.

Medical physics and bioengineering are highly interdisciplinary subjects. Those who practice them need a good grasp of anatomy, physiology, pathology and biology in order to work effectively. In the National Health Service, they are graded as clinical scientists and medical technical officers. They work side-by-side, often in clinical teams, to support the activities of the medical staff, to innovate and to maintain high standards of quality and safety. They are involved in the evaluation of the efficacy of their work and its clinical outcomes. Another very important activity is that the teaching: the next generations of medical physicists, bioengineers and medical technical officers need to be trained and many other staff groups need to have a grasp of physical and engineering principles relevant to their work. They need constantly to keep up-to-date through the process of continuing professional development.

Medical physics and bioengineering provides a satisfying and fulfilling careers for people coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, including pure and applied physics, electrical, electronic and mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, statistics, computing and the biological sciences. As much of the practice of medicine becomes increasingly specialised, medical physics and bioengineering will continue to be both an essential element of its foundation and in the vanguard of progress and innovation.