Brief Biography

David H Evans is an Emeritus Professor of Medical Physics in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Leicester.

His principal research interests are related to Doppler ultrasound physics and signal processing, and applications of Doppler ultrasound in the cerebral circulation. He is the principal co-author of two textbooks on Doppler ultrasound physics, has authored over 200 peer reviewed papers, and lectured in 24 different countries around the world. He has served as President of the British Medical Ultrasound Society (1996-1998), President of European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (2005-2007), and Honorary Secretary of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (2009-2013). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and an Honorary Member of the British Medical Ultrasound Society.

David receiving Honorary Membership of the British Medical Ultrasound Society from Jane Bates in 2004

How and when did you begin your ultrasound Career?

My career in ultrasound started just over 50 years ago, in September 1972, when I joined the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in Glasgow, Scotland. Even as a child I was fascinated by applications of technology in medicine and determined during my undergraduate physics course that I really wanted to apply my physics knowledge to medical problems. I didn’t specifically choose to go into ultrasound, but as an undergraduate I had spent an ‘Industrial Year’ working in the Acoustics Section of the UK National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, and so when I arrived in Glasgow as a new graduate it seemed only natural to set me to work with Norman McDicken on ultrasonics. After a fairly brief period in the central department in Glasgow I was sent to work with a group of vascular surgeons at the Glasgow Western Infirmary where I became particularly interested in Doppler ultrasound, something that has been the main focus of my work in ultrasound since that time.

Shortly after my move to the Western Infirmary Peter Bell, with whom I was then working, was appointed Professor of Surgery at the newly established Medical School in Leicester and I decided that I wanted to continue with the work I had started with Professor Bell, particularly as I thought that being involved at the new Medical School from the outset would present many new opportunities, and so moved to Leicester after just two years in Glasgow, and have continued to work in Leicester for most of the rest of my career.

David with Giovanni Cerri and Michel Claudon at the WFUMB meeting in Seoul 2006.

What were your ultrasound career highlights?

If I were to be asked to name one highlight, it would be having the opportunity to work with so many talented and inspirational physicists, engineers, surgeons, neonatologists, and other clinicians, many of whom I now count amongst my close friends, and some of whom are sadly no longer with us. To be successful, a physicist working in medicine must forge a close working relationship with clinicians, and I have been extraordinarily lucky to have met many brilliant collaborators who have shaped my clinical interests.

Another highlight would be having the opportunity to travel widely, and lecture and teach in many different countries in many parts of the world, and to make many friends across the globe.