Professor Phil Evans

Research and Development of the Physical Basis of Radiotherapy

There are two independent research teams that make up the comprehensive Radiotherapy Physics Research Group.

These teams are:
Radiotherapy Physics Modelling and Radiotherapy Physics Imaging and Detector Technology – Professor Philip Evans

The research programmes of the radiotherapy physics teams have the common long-term goal of developing the application of the physical sciences in radiotherapy to improve targeting of the cancer whilst limiting the dose to non-target organs.

The approaches developed are often tested in clinical trials. We have a strong collaboration with the clinical physics groups and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust clinical oncology groups at Sutton and Chelsea.

Our work addresses all aspects of the radiotherapy process:

• The use of anatomical and functional 3D medical images
• The automatic generation of volume outlines and margins
• The optimum selection of beam orientations
• The techniques of dose calculation
• Methods to shape radiation fields
• Methods to create intensity-modulated fields
• Techniques for verification with imaging, electronic portal imaging, megavoltage computed tomography and transit dosimetry
• Techniques to experimentally measure 3D dose distributions
• Methods for modelling biological outcome
• Clinical implementation within controlled trials
• Methods to measure tissue motion and correct for this in treatment planning and delivery
• Methods to adapt treatment based on anatomical changes and response

We have established collaborations with other research centres, hospitals and industry. Research centres and hospitals with whom we work include: the German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg; Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge; Glasgow University; Lincoln University; Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; Strathclyde University; University College London; University of Surrey; and Stanford Medical Centre, California. Industrial collaborators include: Elekta Limited, Philips Medical Systems, Calypso Inc., Vertec Scientific, Varian Associates and Vision RT.

Philip Evans is Head of the Joint Physics Department, Professor of Medical Radiation Physics and a Team Leader in the Radiotherapy Physics Group.

His research interests concern the physics of radiotherapy and imaging with ionising radiation to design the patient’s treatment, monitor the accuracy of that treatment and measure the success of its outcome.

After completing a DPhil in Nuclear Structure Physics, he joined the ICR with a keen interest in applying basic physics to medicine and worked as a Post-doctoral Fellow with Professor Bill Swindell in The Joint Physics Department, developing novel imaging systems.

The partnership between ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust provided, and still provides, an excellent environment in which to carry out medical physics research. The combination of university physicists (such as Professor Evans) and hospital physicists working closely together with university and hospital medical staff provides unique research opportunities with the possibility of quick patient impact. This partnership has made possible several clinical trials, based on work by Professors Evans’ team, to evaluate imaging technology to improve treatment in patients with cancer of the prostate, breast, lung, and head & neck.

Professor Evans is a Fellow of The Institute of Physics and of The Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications. He is on the organising committee of several conferences on imaging in radiotherapy and position sensitive detectors. He has been a Visiting Professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Future research plans involve the development and application of new technology for producing radiotherapy beams, imaging and measuring treatments, the development of quantitative functional imaging and the quantitative combination of radiotherapy with other cancer treatments. 

His interests include hill walking, cycling, history, cricket and football (the latter two now only as a spectator).