Prof. Clare Elwell

University College London

Clare Elwell is a Professor of Medical Physics at University College London (UCL) and Vice Dean for Impact for UCL Engineering. She develops functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technologies to image the human brain and her research projects include studies of acute brain injury, infant brain development, autism, migraine and malaria. She currently leads the Brain Imaging for Global Health (BRIGHT) project which delivered the first brain images of infants in Africa. In 2023 she was awarded a Brocher Foundation Fellowship to investigate the responsible use of neuroimaging in disorders of consciousness.

Clare is Past President of the International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue and hosted the 42^nd Annual Meeting of the society in 2014 at UCL. Clare is also past President of the Society for Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy. She is current President of the London International Youth Science Forum. She was a 2018 British Science Association Media Fellow at the Financial Times and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. She is Founder and Trustee of the charity Young Scientists for Africa. She has won numerous awards for research, teaching and public engagement and is currently the academic lead for the UCL Festival of Engineering. In July 2024 she lead the UCL Festival of Engineering – Six Days to Change the World which attracted over 10,000 attendees of industry partners, policy makers, general public and school and community groups to engage with engineering innovations at UCL.

Abstract:
Using Photonics to Transform How, When and Where We Can Image the Brain

The last decade has seen unprecedented advances in the capability of neuroimaging technologies for studies of the human brain. The advent of non invasive techniques has opened up whole new horizons for how, when and where we can image the brain

During this lecture I will discuss the transformative impact of optical brain imaging techniques, particularly near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The non invasive, portable, wearable and affordable nature of NIRS has enabled images of brain oxygen metabolism to be acquired in infants and adults. NIRS studies of the developing brain are paving the way for early markers of autism and studies in toddlers. And following its successful implementation in resource poor settings, NIRS is now an important brain imaging tool in global health studies.

Innovations in photonics continue to drive the usability and accessibility of NIRS systems and their emerging use in personalised medicine. I will also discuss the ethical implications of the democratization of brain imaging and the role of medical physics in managing this.