Simone Kodlulovich Renha
Chair Awards and Honors Committee, IOMP

Eva Bezak
Secretary General, IOMP

The importance of medical physicists in the applications of ionizing radiation to healthcare is continuously increasing throughout the world. Their knowledge and experience are applied to maximize the benefits of radiation applications in medicine. With the rapid advancement of technologies, medical physicists are required to be highly qualified and to demonstrate extensive knowledge covering the areas of radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and radiodiagnostics, among others.

In 1998 the IOMP formed the Awards and Honors Committee (AHC), to develop a process to formally recognize the excellence of the work of medical physicists world-wide, who make a significant difference in patient care. Over the years, to appreciate the diverse and multifaceted contributions of medical physicists, a series of awards have been created: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award, Harold Johns Medal, John Mallard Award, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Young Scientist Award in Medical Physics, the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) Award of Merit, International Day of Medical Physics (IDMP) Award, Fellow of IOMP (FIOMP), and Honorary Members. These awards recognize medical physicists and scientists who have distinguished themselves for their contributions through excellence in education and training, advancement of knowledge of medical physics and advancement of the medical physics profession, significant contributions to the science and scientific practice of medical physics, meritorious participation in national organizations and international standards for medical physics and that have significantly influenced the development of the medical physics profession internationally. In addition, considering the importance of having more young people to pursue a career in medical physics, a special award was established to encourage, promote, and recognize the work carried out by young researchers. IOMP is grateful to regularly receive multiple nominations for these awards. The quality of nominations is always very high, and it is a challenging task for the AHC to evaluate the nominations.

Three of IOMP’s important awards have just been decided and will be presented at the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering to be held in Singapore on 12-17 June 2022.  These are:

The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award

Professor Ehsan Samei from Duke University, USA is the awardee for The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award, in recognition of his contribution to:

1. Education and training of medical physicists, medical students, medical residents, and allied health personnel; and/or
2. Advancement of medical physics knowledge based upon independent original research and/or development; and/or
3. Advancement of the medical physics profession in the IOMP adhering national and international organizations.

This award is given triennially at the IOMP World Congresses. Please see Prof. Samei’s brief contribution at https://www.iomp.org/marie-sklodowska-curie-award-2022-ehsan-samei-phd/

The list of previous awardees is available here.

The Harold Johns Medal

Professor George Starkschall from MD Anderson, Texas, USA is the awardee for Harold Johns Medal, in recognition of his contribution to:

1. Excellence in teaching; and
2. An outstanding contribution to international education and training in medical physics.

This award is given triennially at the IUPESM World Congresses. Please see Prof. Starkschall’s brief contribution at https://www.iomp.org/harold-johns-medal-2022-george-starkschall-phd/

The list of previous awardees is available here.

IUPESM Award of Merit in Medical Physics

Professor Xie George Xu from the University of Science and Technology of China is the awardee for the IUPESM Award of Merit in Medical Physics, in recognition of his:

1. Significant impact in the science and scientific practice of medical physics; and
2. Meritorious participation in national and international organizations for medical physics; and
3. Significant influence on the development of the profession of medical physics.

This award is given triennially at the IOMP World Congresses. Please see Prof. Xu’s brief contribution at https://www.iomp.org/iupesm-award-of-merit-in-medical-physics-2022-xie-george-xu-phd/

The list of previous awardees is available here.