In Focus – Hannah & Lucia

This month our staff ‘In Focus’ are Hannah Marshall, Research Assistant and Lucia Corrigan, Research Student. Hannah & Lucia work as part of the medical physics team in the NI Cancer Centre, providing scientific support for radiotherapy treatment.  

Hannah – Research Assistant

In Hannah’s funded role, she helps the wider team in performing research to develop and implement new methods of treatment delivery and quality checks. This work is crucial in delivering safe and precise treatments to patients. The different cancers treated at the NI Cancer Centre means that there are several types of treatment on offer within the radiotherapy department. Without the support of the medical physics team, the radiotherapy department could simply not provide the treatment they do, for over 3,500 people each year.  

Hannah works to:

• Assist with vital checks and reviewing radiotherapy equipment to ensure that local cancer patients are receiving safe and accurate treatment. 
• Support researchers at the NI Cancer Trials Network, providing technical help for the implementation of new techniques as part of radiotherapy clinical trials. 
• Conduct research into developments in the field of radiotherapy physics – ensuring staff are working with the most innovative techniques.
• Present the research she is involved with, both locally and nationally at conferences and forums.

Lucia – Research Student

Lucia is the first student to join the Medical Physics team under the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research Summer Research Programme. During Lucia’s studentship, funded by the charity, she is supporting Hannah and the wider Medical Physics team. Her work will be in analysing data that comes from the thousands of radiotherapy treatments delivered in the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, helping to ensure the precision and accuracy of treatment.

You can read more about Friends of the Cancer Centre’s support for local cancer research on our ‘How We Help’ pages – Research – Friends of the Cancer Centre