One of The Christie's clinical scientists, Carl Rowbottom, has received the Chief Scientific Officer's Award for Leadership in the prestigious Advancing Healthcare Awards.

The awards recognise healthcare science staff that have shown determination when driving up the quality of patient care, both cost efficiently and sustainably.

Carl received the award, following his introduction of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) to patients at the specialist cancer centre.

IMRT maximises the radiation dose to tumours while minimising damage to the surrounding tissue. Having worked in the USA, where IMRT is more commonly used, Carl was convinced that The Christie's patients could benefit further if IMRT was offered as part of their treatment.

Carl, who successfully increased the number of patients receiving IMRT from 130 to 800 annually - six times the original number, comments:

"I'm delighted to get this recognition at a national level. The focus throughout my plan remained the improvement to patient outcomes. My enthusiasm for the potential end results really encouraged my colleagues and we worked together to increase targets."

Last year, 865 patients were treated with IMRT at The Christie, achieving the 20% target set in 2008. The service is now routine and sustainable. 

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