Dr Mike Kirby BSc, BTh, MSc, MA, PhD, MIPEM, CSci, FBIR, FHEA
Senior Lecturer (Radiotherapy Physics) School of Health Sciences
- Work email M.Kirby@liverpool.ac.uk
- Personal Websitehttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mike-Kirby-3
- ACADEMIAAcademia profile
About
Personal Statement
The Revd Canon Dr Mike Kirby began work in the UK’s National Health Service over 30 years ago, as a Radiotherapy Physicist at the Christie Hospital, Manchester UK. He then helped set up Rosemere Cancer Centre in Preston, UK from 1996 as deputy Head of Radiotherapy Physics and Consultant Clinical Scientist there. His work moved back to the Christie in 2007 as Head of Radiotherapy Physics and Consultant Clinical Scientist for the Satellite Centres and he helped to lead their development in Oldham and Salford as part of the Christie Network. His research has primarily been in electronic portal imaging, developing clinical practice, commissioning and technical implementation of radiotherapy technology (especially electronic portal imaging and radiotherapy networks), IGRT and, more recently, teaching and learning for radiotherapy education. In May 2019 he (together with Liverpool colleague Kerrie-Anne Calder) published an international student textbook on On-treatment Verification Imaging: a Study guide for IGRT, through CRC press/Taylor and Francis. He and Kerrie-Anne are also contributors to the updated UK national guidance on IGRT due out in 2020 (which Mike co-authored the original in 2008); and they are presently writing their next book for CRC Press - 'Clinical Insights for IGRT: Prostate'
Mike has graduate and postgraduate qualifications in Physics and Medical Physics from the Universities of Durham, Birmingham, and Manchester. He has professional membership of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the British Institute of Radiology (BIR), the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and is a Chartered Scientist (CSci) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in the UK. He has designed and delivered a week-long regional training course on quality assurance (QA) of Record and Verify (RandV ) systems as an expert lecturer for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Algiers (2016), including all aspects of integration of on-treatment radiotherapy verification into the RandV system. He acts as an expert lecturer/consultant for the IAEA in this area. As part of his long-term work with the BIR, he was made chair of the institute's national Radiotherapy and Oncology SIG management committee in autumn 2020, and is leading the organisation of national and international meetings on various aspects of Radiotherapy, Radiobiology and also simulation/VR in clinical education. Two annual meetings on Radiotherapy and Oncology have been organised in 2021 and 2022. As well as a senior lecturer (Radiotherapy Physics) at the University of Liverpool, he is also an Honorary Lecturer in Cancer Sciences (School of Medical Sciences) at the University of Manchester as a doctoral supervisor for the national HSST Program for training Consultant Clinical Scientists within the UK. Mike was made a Fellow of the British Institute of Radiology in 2022.
Mike is also a priest in the Church of England; having trained and studied at Westcott House and the Universities of Cambridge and Cumbria, he holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in Theology. His ministry has mainly been in the Cathedrals of Blackburn, Chester, and Liverpool (Anglican). He became a Residentiary Canon of Liverpool Cathedral in Feb 2020, with the title of Canon Scientist. He is a member of the Society of Ordained Scientists and has given numerous talks on Science and Faith to schools, colleges, churches and other institutions. As part of this work, he has organised lecture series with world renowned speakers at Blackburn (2016) and Chester (2018); a third series was delivered at Liverpool Cathedral in May 2019, and a fourth series delivered online in 2021. A hybrid series (of online and face-to-face lectures) is in was first created in 2022 and continues in this format at present.