MSc in Radiobiology

MSc in Medical Physics with Radiobiology

Vasily Sorokin

Emma Durkin

Jiahua Li

One of the main research interests includes investigating how and why ionising radiation initiates a diverse range of biological responses. We are also interested in how this correlates to differences in the temporal and spatial pattern of energy deposition events on the scale of DNA, cells and tissues associated with different radiation qualities of ionizing radiation. Mechanisms are thus formulated which are interpreted in the context of risk associated with exposure or which can potentially be exploited in radiotherapy.

Mark Hill has been Head of the Radiation Biophysics Core at the Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology within the Department of Oncology since 2008, following the move of his research group from the MRC Radiation and Genome Stability Unit. Since 2019, Mark has also been an Adjunct Professor at Sunway University, Malaysia.

Mark has over ~35 years of experience in the field of radiation biology and physics with over 110 related peer-reviewed publications, building on an MSc in Radiation Physics at St Bart’s Medical College and related PhD at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, prior to moving to the MRC Unit in 1994.  The main focus of the work over this period relates to understanding the mechanisms behind initial DNA damage and subsequent biological response in the context of radiation track structure and ultimately the associated human health implications.  Following the move to the University of Oxford his interests have expanded to include, not only in vivo and preclinical experiments, but also clinically related research.

Mark is currently the Chair of Examiners of the MSc in Radiobiology and MSc in Medical Physicss with Radiobiology in the Department of Oncology following a four years as Course Director from 2016 to 2020 and a previous period as Chair of Examiners from 2012 to 2016. In addition to teaching on this course, he lectures on the Annual Radiological Protection Summer School held at the University of Cambridge and spent five years as a specialist radiobiology examiner on the First FRCR examination board for the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR). He has also been involved with a number of national and international committees including being a member of the International Agency for Research of Cancer (IARC) working group preparing the monograph on ionising radiation and cancer, a member of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) working group on the dosimetry of low-dose exposures of ionsing radiation and a member of the Tritium Subgroup of the UK Advisory Group on Ionizing Radiation (AGIR). He also was a  member of the ESTRO ACROP task group on Tecnology for Precision Small Animal Radiotherapy Research and currently Deputy Chair of the NCRI Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Working Group  (CTRad) Working Group 1.

Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, a Fellow of the Society for Radiological Protection, and an honorary Member of the Royal College of Radiologists. He is also currently a member of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) providing independent advice to all UK government departments and agencies, as well as Deputy Chair of the Home Office Fieldfare Scientific Advisory Group.