Professor Uwe Oelfke is Deputy Head of the Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He is also Head of the Joint Department of Physics (ICR and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust) and Team Leader for the Radiotherapy Physics Modelling group (ICR).
His career began in Theoretical Nuclear Physics, gaining his PhD at the University of Hanover in 1990. He then moved to TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics where he worked as a Post Doc, initially with the Nuclear Theory Group and then moved to the Batho Biomedical Facility as a Research Associate, looking at Proton & Pion Therapy. It was at this stage he transferred from Nuclear to Medical Physics.
In 1997 he returned to Germany to join The German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg as a Research Associate, where he became a group leader in 2001 and received a Professorship of Medical Radiation Physics from Heidelberg University in 2004. During 15 years in Heidelberg, his research was focused on adaptive and image-guided radiation therapy, treatment planning and modelling and Hadron therapy.
He firmly believes that Medical Physics research on cancer imaging and therapy is an essential component to improve the clinical outcomes of radiation oncology.
Outside of work Professor Oelfke enjoys hiking with his family and playing table tennis.