Leading medical radiation experts visit Wollongong

Aug 27, 2003

Scientists from the United States, Italy, France and Israel will visit the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong tomorrow (Thursday 28 August) during their visit to Australia to attend the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering being held in Sydney from 24 to 29 August.

Their visit, which includes the presentation of seminars, is part of the overall Congress program. The Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, officially opened the Congress in Sydney.

The program at Wollongong is focused on the 2nd International Workshop on "Mini Micro Dosimetry (MMD) and its Application" which includes looking at the latest techniques for radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer patients.

The MMD works in collaboration with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York to address a range of important issues of radiation dosimetry (measurement of medicine doses) in radiation therapy and radiobiological effects of radiation in medicine and space environment.

In regard to space environment, a tiny radiation monitoring device has been developed at UOW which will orbit the earth on the next generation of United States satellites and spacecraft, gathering vital information on radiation levels to help NASA predict the radiobiological effect of cosmic radiation. It will help NASA determine the safe levels of exposure for astronauts aboard space shuttles and orbiting space stations.

Media please note

Time and date: The overseas visitors will be at the University of Wollongong from 10.30am to 1.30pm on Thursday 28 August. From 10.30am to 11am they will meet for morning tea, followed by presentations and seminars until 1.30pm.

Venue: The Vice-Chancellor's Dining Room, first floor of McKinnon Building (Bldg 67).

Note: Following the seminar, the scientists in mid afternoon tomorrow will see first hand the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics site and CT scanner and gamma camera donated by GE Medical Systems for medical physics education and research.

For further information about the Wollongong visit and the Medical Physics Congress in general contact Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld on 0402 058181.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128