Alan Mcwilliam

Biography

I am the research team lead for adaptive radiotherapy, working in Prof. van Herk’s group at the University of Manchester and based in the Christie hospital.  My research interests include the MR linac where I act as the Christie’s representative on the adaptive planning group within the international MR linac consortium.  Research work in this area is focused on assessing the suitability of adaptive strategies on the MR linac.  Current work is focused on anatomical changes in head and neck patients; weight loss and sinus filling, and how this interacts with the magnetic field. 

Other work is focused on improving the precision of radiotherapy, in particular in the use of contour propagation.  A PhD student is investigating workflows for QA of contour propagation in adaptive workflows.  I have also started a collaberation with a commercial company to develop software for contour propagation for lung cancer patients.  There is also associated work on-going using contour propagation to assess tumour shrinkage in SCLC lung cancer patients, correlating against survival. 

The Christie has a large archive of previously treated patients.  This contains valuable information that can be mined to inform future treatment strategies.  One data mining project aims to identify sub-regions of the heart which, when receiving a high dose, is associated with poor survival. This work has recently been presented at ASTRO in the best of physics session.

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

Insititute of Physics and Medicine

Insitute of Physics

HCPC registered clinical scientist (CS18231)