Professor (Emeritus) Brian Brown, BSc, PhD, FInstP, FIET

Emeritus Professor of Medical Physics

Department of Cardiovascular Science
University of Sheffield
Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX

Telephone: 0114 271 2313
Email: b.h.brown@sheffield.ac.uk

Biography:

• Development Engineer, Pye Ltd, Cambridge (1962 – 1963)
• Health Physicist, Berkeley Nuclear Power Station (1963 – 1964)
• Clinical Scientist, Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (1964 – 1982)
• UN Expert in Medical Electronics, India (1977 – 1978)
• Professor of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering, Sheffield University (1982 – 2006)
• Chairman of Dept. of Medical Physics & Clinical Engineering., Sheffield Teaching Hospitals / University of Sheffield (1997 – 2002).
• Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield, (2006 – present)

Research interests:

My major research interest has been in Medical Electronics involving research and development work on the techniques of physiological measurement, the production of instrumentation and its application to both clinical and routine patient measurement. Major areas of my research have been into the recording and understanding of the electrical activity of the gut, the analysis of nerve action potentials, the use of electromyography to investigate and identify carriers of muscular dystropy and the development of aids for the profoundly deaf.

More recently I have concentrated on research into the electrical properties of tissue, including the practical realisation of Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) and Tissue Spectroscopy as routine clinical tools. I pioneered the development of EIT and initiated European Union Concerted Action Programmes in this field. I have contributed to about 280 scientific publications, patents and books. I continue to have a research interest into the detection of cervical pre-malignancy and I have also returned to an early interest in climatology.

Professional Activities:

• Awarded the Founders' Prize of the Hospital Physicists' Association for distinction in the application of Physics to Medicine, 1972.
• Received the Sir Albert Martin research prize(jointly with Dr R H Smallwood) for research into the electrical and mechanical activity of the gastrointestinal tract, 1980.
• Received the Herman P Schwan Award for Pioneering Research into Electrical Impedance Tomography at a ceremony in Gdansk, 2004.
• UK delegate to the European Economic Community Committee on Biomedical Engineering (COMAC-BME), 1987-93.
• Member and Chairman of the Science and Engineering Research Council Committee on Medical Engineering and Sensors;
• Member of the Trent Regional Health Authority, Research Working Group on Clinical Laboratory Sciences; 1991-96
• Member of the Design Council, Medical Engineering Advisory Committee;
• Chairman of the IEE Professional Committee on Medical and Biological Systems (S9);
• Member of the British Standards Committee on Surgical Diathermy Equipment;
• Course external examiner to the Universities of Surrey (82-86: MSc), Dundee (82-85; MSc), Exeter(86-89; BSc), London(UCL, BEng; 91-95); London UCL, MRes in Advanced Instrumentation Systems, (1999 - 2003);
• Member of the EPSRC Medical Engineering College
• Chairman of IPEM Membership Panel, 1997 – 2001.
• Research Assessment Exercise 2001, Member of Physics Panel, 1999 – 2001.
• Chairman of IFMBE Journals Committee 2000 - 2004
• Academic founder of Zilico Ltd 1997 – present.

Key Publications:

1. B.H. Brown (1965), Simple analogue divider and multiplier. Electronics Letters, 1, 7, 206.
2. B.H.Brown (1966), Some new instruments for the continuous monitoring of body temperature, respiration rate and pulse rate. Physics in Med. and Biol., 11, 1, 135.
3. B.H. Brown, H.L. Duthie, A.R. Horn and R.H. Smallwood (1975), A linked oscillator model of electrical activity of human small intestine. Am. J. Physiol., 229, 2, 384-388.
4. B H Brown and D C Barber (1988) 'Possibilities and problems of real-time imaging of tissue resistivity'. CPPM 9(A), 121-126.
5. B H Brown, R H Smallood, D R Hose, D C Barber and P V Lawford, (1999), Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, 736 pages, IOP Publishing, Bristol and Philadelphia.
6. B H Brown, J Tidy, K Boston, A D Blackett, R H Smallwood and F Sharp, (2000), The relationship between tissue structure and imposed electrical current flow in cervical neoplasia, The Lancet, 355: 892-95.
7. B H Brown R A Primhak, R H Smallwood, P Milnes, A J Narracott and M J Jackson, (2002), Neonatal lungs – maturational changes in lung resistivity spectra, Med. Biol. Eng. 40, 5, 506-511.
8. Brown BH, Milnes P, Abdul S and Tidy JA., (2005), Detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia using impedance spectroscopy: a prospective study, BJOG: 112, 802-806.
9. B H Brown, Short-term changes in global cloud cover and in cosmic radiation (2008), Jn. of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 70, 1122-1131.
   

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