MJS Christmas Science Lecture 2021

We were delighted welcome Mark Hitchman, Managing Director of Canon Medical Systems UK to Caterham School for the annual Moncrieff Jones Society Christmas Lecture. This year’s lecture enthralled the audience with the questions and debate post presentation flowing long into the evening – a measure of the fascinating content and thought provoking lecture.

Mark not only heads the company that supplies the latest cutting-edge imaging technology to all hospitals in the UK, but is also at the leading edge of emerging community diagnostic hubs, and even creating sporting arenas to use this technology in the rapidly expanding field of Sports Science, as well as for ongoing research.  He is also a passionate supporter of the role Canon must play in reducing carbon emissions, placing his company as a world leader in net zero emissions.

At some point in our lives we are all likely to find ourselves inside a CT or MRI Scanner, let alone that these are increasingly also important as a screening tool for disease avoidance: the holy grail of medicine.  Canon are at the forefront of developing a new generation of medical equipment, using artificial intelligence to not only diagnose disease and other ailments, but to predict them before they happen.   The earlier conditions can be diagnosed the better the prognosis for the patient.  It is not a question of when this technology will be invented – Mark Hitchman and his team at Canon have already done that and continue to do so – but when will we start using it routinely, and how, and what are the challenges and risks? 

The evening also marked the launch of two of Caterham’s pupil produced science journals- Quantum Ultimatum and the Caterham Medical Journal.