“September” 2007 ... - the ACPSEM

“September” 2007… … ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……
Editors: J. Burrage, R. Day, T. A. Wuzho Department of Medical Engineering & Physics, RPH 9224 3216 John.Burrage@health.wa.gov.au
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
From the Editors
Welcome to the “September” edition of the MQD. As an editor I suppose I could do the
right thing and apologise for its lateness, but as is the custom these days I will instead
blame our overheating ecomony, trade unions, daylight saving, and hippies (in that order).
And now over to Sean.
John
Chairman’s Report
The penultimate MQD for the year is upon us. It also happens to be my final report as
Branch Chairman. We've had a busy year with a fantastic effort from the WA Branch in
organising the annual conference and participating in various projects run by the
ACPSEM, WA Health and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. Here is
the summary of what we achieved:
• Members of the WA Branch provided comments on the draft ARPANSA Codes of Practice and
Safety Guides.
• We commented on the draft Tripartite Radiation Oncology Treatment Standards and some of us
attended the workshop on this project held in Sydney.
• The branch submitted its financial reports to the ACPSEM Office as part of improved governance
standards being adopted by the ACPSEM.
• An issue with regard to running of the ACPSEM Training Education and Accreditation Program
was raised by the branch and these issues are being dealt with.
• The branch was asked by WA Health to comment on several issues affecting medical physicists
and biomedical engineers and a letter addressing these issues was submitted by the branch to the
Office of the Chief Health Professions Officer.
• And of course EPSM-ABEC 2007 was held. This was extremely successful with many positive
comments received from the exhibitors and attendees. My congratulations go out to the organising
committee for EPSM-ABEC 2007, particularly Janette Atkinson and Ed Scull who both put in a
tremendous effort in getting it right on the night.
There are some outstanding issues for next year's committee.
• The I-131 radiation protection paper is still to be finalised.
• The proposed UWA MSc in Medical and Radiation Physics is still to grow some legs and the
committee will need to keep an eye on its progress.
Much of this work could not have been achieved without the strong support of the branch committee
and the conference organising committee. These committees are made up of people like you and me.
The Branch AGM is to be held at RPH on Tuesday 11 December at which time the new committee will
be elected. I urge all members to attend this event and encourage you to nominate for the branch
committee so that the direction the branch takes in 2008 and beyond represents your interests. This is
particularly important because the ACPSEM is beginning to be recognised as the organisation
representing the professional interests of medical physicists and biomedical engineers in this state,
Australia and New Zealand. We are going to be increasingly relied on to comment on government
policy and to propose projects for funding our professional development. There are several million
dollars being made available by the Commonwealth to fund education programs for us and related
professions. It is in your interest to participate in the ACPSEM activities and provide direction to your
representatives on the WA Branch Committee and the ACPSEM Council.
As this is my final report I wish next year's committee all the best.
Sean
MQD Sep 2007 Page 1 of 3

Robert Stanford Award
AGM
The Robert Stanford Award winner this year is Ben Khoo for his principal authorship of the paper “A
cortical-bone structural geometry phantom: dental plaster as a convenient and radiologically similar
fabrication material”, published in the Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine
Volume earlier this year.
Congratulations to Ben, and thanks to the sponsors of the award, Nucletron.
The ACPSEM AGM will be held on Tuesday December 11 at the Department of Medical Engineering &
Physics at 5.15 pm.
Sandwiches and the sort of beverages that usually gets served with sandwiches will be provided.
The 2007 committee has nominated the following people for committee posts in 2008:
Chairperson: John Burrage
Vice-Chairperson: Nikki Caswell
Treasurer: Peter Rampant
Secretary: Simon Woodings
Spokesperson: Janette Atkinson
Ordinary Committee Members: Sean Geoghegan, Rob Day, David Causer, Roger Price
Other nominations are welcome. They must be seconded, must include the written consent of the
nominee, and must be submitted to the branch secretary by no later than 10 Dec 2007.
Ask the Leningrad Cowboys
As part of MQD’s long-time commitment to continuing education, we present
the Ask The Leningrad Cowboys segment, where members of the cult rock
band answer your questions.
If you have a question about health, engineering, physics, or anything really,
send it in and we’ll let the boys take a swing at it.
This time we have a letter from regular correspondent Peter Henson from Nedlands. He says:
Dear Editors 3
To update Your Editorships on my NHMRC funded project, Svetlana the tractor and I have met with
disaster. Things went well with the initial experiments and we were rewarded with significant and
valuable results (did you read the reports in the prestigious Joondalup Community journal, p10,
2007?). Incidentally, I can’t remember mentioning the actual field of study and now there seems to be
some sort of scurrilous rumour about ram raiding but, hey, sheep stealing!? As that great CONTROL
agent and sadly unrecognised philosopher, Maxwell Smart, may well have said; ‘would you believe -
potatoes?’ Well, we were on our way to a new experiment site but someone must have grassed on us.
The tractor had a bug in it and we were ambushed by the Anti Free Potato gang. Svety did an
amazing impression of a quantum superposition of states by trying to go in four directions at once
while I made a more mundane incoherent exit. I haven’t seen her since. Anyway, I’m sure she’ll show
up somewhere and, hopefully, not reveal all. However, the potato work has now gone pear shaped
and I must go inconspicuously where many others have gone before i.e. overseas. Oh dear, I think I
hear someone coming and if it’s Svety, I don’t want to become number 7 on her hit list, so, where the
hell’s my sombrero, adios amigos, felice Navidad.
Yoursinahurry
PHen
MQD Sep 2007 Page 2 of 3

Svetlana answers:
Hello. Oh dear, things not really work out as planned. Party look disapprovingly on
grant money which have been wasted, so not much happiness towards Peter or
myself right now. Such a beautiful letter but sadly I have not time to write proper reply
as am heading towards Kursk in stolen combine harvester. So much sadness in
Svetlana’s life right now; the sorrows grow legion in number, like so many dead exhusbands.
In the meantime, can I just say - why not buy a Leningrad Cowboys LP or tape!! The perfect
Christmas present for loved ones and party officials alike. Only 20 roubles! Cheap at half the price! (A
saying which I never understand really, since most things cheap at half the price except items in
David Jones.)
Bye for now!
Svetlana
News That Will Be Breaking At Some Point in the Future, Perhaps – Election Special – Election Special
Australian Zombie Party’s “eat brains” policy failing to gain traction with
voters.
Nervous Rudd to spend election eve alone in front of TV with large tub of
earwax.
The Garrett gaffe: a dark day in Australian politics when is the sanest man in
the room is Richard Wilkins.
Terrorists apprehended, beaten, under mistaken belief they were the Chaser team.
The Amazing Wuzho
Howard strenuously denies Liberals running “scare campaign”.
MQD Sep 2007 Page 3 of 3