Healthcare Science Week: Clinical Scientist Joe Hobson | News

To celebrate Healthcare Science Week (10-16 March), we’re shining a spotlight on some of the healthcare scientists at Royal Surrey. This group of highly skilled professionals plays a vital role in patient care, supporting doctors to make sure patients get the right diagnosis and deliver safe and effective treatment. First to feature is clinical scientist Joe Hobson.

Around 3,500 patients with various forms of cancer receive radiotherapy at Royal Surrey every year. They’ll often undergo this treatment every day for a number of weeks, and for every treatment delivered a clinical scientist will be working behind the scenes to make sure it is delivered as safely and accurately as possible.

Joe, who provides scientific support to radiotherapy and brachytherapy services, lifts the lid on his role and why he is proud to be an integral part of cancer care at Royal Surrey.

Tell us about your role

I am a clinical scientist at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre, providing scientific support across the range of radiotherapy and brachytherapy services. My job is to make sure that safe, accurate and high quality personalised radiotherapy treatment is delivered to cancer patients. 

What did you do to train for it?

I studied for an MSc in medical physics where I gained specialist theoretical knowledge of a wide area of radiotherapy physics. I gained practical skills during an accredited healthcare scientist training scheme which led to Health and Care Professions Council registration as a clinical scientist.

What are some of your day-to-day tasks?

The variety of the job keeps you on your toes. One day I might be in theatre helping a clinician deliver brachytherapy, which is where radioactive sources are placed in a patient’s body to fight cancer. My job is to advise the clinician on the optimal placement of these radioactive sources within a tumour. 

The following day, I could be using computer algorithms to optimise treatment plans that deliver prescription doses to tumours and minimise healthy tissue dose. 

A key part of the role is contributing to developments and clinical research to implement state-of-the-art equipment and techniques.

What is the best bit of your job?

Seeing the impact of my work on the quality of a patient’s treatment.

I am passionate about working on longer term development projects where I implement equipment and techniques to ultimately deliver higher quality patient care. I also enjoy working in multidisciplinary teams. Each team member brings different skills and knowledge to the table, which all come together to enhance patient care.

What would surprise people about your role?

We exist! Although we have less patient contact than radiographers and clinicians, radiotherapy physics staff are a crucial part of a multi-disciplinary team that strives to deliver excellent patient care.

What would you say to people thinking about going into this profession?

Being in this profession provides you with immense job satisfaction as you know you are making a difference to patients. The science and technology of radiotherapy develops at an incredible speed, providing numerous opportunities for continued learning and research. Recent innovation includes using artificial intelligence to streamline patient pathways and deliver online adaptive radiotherapy.

Why are you proud to do this job?

Working at the crossroads of physics and engineering applied to medicine, and seeing the benefits our patients experience from the daily and long-term goals of the department is extremely rewarding.