Prof. John Mallard

Professor John Mallard was appointed to the University of Aberdeen in 1965 as the first Professor of Medical Physics and indeed the first holder of the Chair in this subject in Scotland. Before joining the University he had a distinguished career culminating as Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Physics at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. During that time he was instrumental in a number of significant developments in the field of medical imaging, including pioneering work on radionuclide imaging, building the first imaging device in the U.K. and being involved in the first European brain tumour imaging trials.
During his time in Aberdeen continued to build on his early work in medical imaging. In the early 1970's he built the first British tomographic imager, for the 3D imaging of radionuclide distributions in the body. This preceded the development of Houndsfield's X-ray CT scanner by several years. It was also during his early years at Aberdeen that his initial work on imaging using electron spin resonance developed into nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.
During the 1970s and 80s he also had a team researching in ultrasound. He developed one of the early phased array transducers. His group also published the first work on the use of "focussed" ultrasound for therapy.
His major contribution to medical imaging was in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. His group was responsible for some of the major discoveries which led to this technique becoming a clinically viable technique, including the concept of spin warp imaging which is used in imagers to this day. The production of the first clinically valuable magnetic resonance images from patients in 1980 was a major scientific event. The benefits that his discovery has brought to thousands of people since then cannot be underestimated.
In his inaugural lecture on taking up the Chair, he set out as one of his aims the task of setting up a facility for positron emission tomography (PET). John saw this as potentially one of the major clinical imaging modalities. In 1976 following a public appeal he purchased a site for the facility and with support from a number of Research Councils and Charities he set up business with second-hand equipment and a core staff. It is typical of John Mallard's general approach that he is not deterred by having to take the long and hard route to achieving his scientific goals. A modern PET Centre, named after John Mallard, was set up on the Royal Infirmary site in Aberdeen in 1998.
John's final idea before retirement was for a new medical imaging technique, known as proton electron double resonance, which aims to image free radicals in vivo. His idea originated from a paper he wrote for Nature in 1963.
While located in Aberdeen, John maintained his international view of science. He is a past President of the Institute of Physical Sciences in Medicine (IPSM), the Biological Engineering Society (BES), the International Organisation for Medical Physics (IOMP), the Founder Vice -President of the European Nuclear Medicine Society, the Founder President of the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology, and the Founder President of the International Union of Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) and succeeded in obtaining its Associate Membership of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
He has received many honours and prizes during his career including the Landau Memorial Plaque of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the Academic Enterprise Competition Prize of the British Technology Group, the Royal Society Wellcome Prize and Gold Medal, the George Van Hevesey Memorial Lecture Medal, The Royal Society Mullard award and the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He was awarded the OBE in the Queens Birthday Honours List in 1992 and was awarded the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 2004.