After graduating BSc(Eng) in Electrical Engineering from King’s College London, Colin’s early career was spent in the medical engineering industry in the UK and France. He has an MSc in Biomechanics and his PhD involved pioneering research into the prevention of DVT. Professor of Biomedical Engineering at King’s College Hospital Medical School (1983). Director and Foundation Professor (now Emeritus) of Medical Engineering & Physics at King’s and King’s College Hospital (1990). Foundation Director of the national Centre of Rehabilitation Engineering (CORE), (1990). Established the King’s MSc and in-service training programme in Medical Engineering & Physics. Both independently adjudged “best in UK”.
Colin has published over 300 papers in the scientific and medical press, five books and numerous patents. His activities have spanned medical equipment design, arterial and venous haemodynamics, instrumentation and techniques for diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease and amputee care.
In 2007 Colin became a non-executive Director (subsequently Chairman) of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals. Colin is Chairman of NHS Innovations SW Ltd, a commercial organisation providing consultancy services to industry and the NHS. Colin is also the Chairman of Cornwall Mobility Centre Ltd, a charity with extensive national and European links in the field of mobility for the disabled.
Colin was elected President of the BES in 1976. Under his Presidency the BES established the Journal of Biomedical Engineering. It also took steps to become affiliated to the Council of Engineering Institutions in order to register suitably qualified professionals as Chartered (Medical) Engineers. Colin was the first person in the UK to be so registered.
Colin was a member and Chairman of the IFMBE’s Clinical Engineering Working Group (1979-1985). Under his Chairmanship the WG established the criteria for registration and recognition as a professional clinical engineer throughout the IFMBE’s member societies. Colin was elected to the IFMBE Administrative Council in 1991.
Colin was Editor of the Federation’s journal Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing from 1985-1992. Colin was subsequently Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Engineering (1993-1999). Under his editorship the journal’s name was changed to Medical Engineering & Physics and became internationally leading.
A patentee and inventor, Colin acts regularly as an expert witness in the field of medical instrumentation and IP protection within the UK and the USA. He has also acted as consultant to many firms working in medical technology and has worked as an adviser to Research Councils in Europe, Australasia and North America, the EU, UN and WHO, as well as acting as Expert Européen to INSERM. He has served on and chaired a number of governmental committees for both the Cabinet Office and the UK Department of Health and the National Institute for Health Research.
Colin’s distinctions include election to Fellowship of many institutions including the BES, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Physics in Engineering in Medicine; the BES’ President’s Prize for the best paper in the Journal of Biomedical Engineering (1980); the Nightingale Prize for the best paper in the journal Medical Engineering & Physics (1996); an Honorary Doctorate from Plovdiv Higher Medical University (1998); the inaugural EU Leonard da Vinci Award for Quality and Innovation in Vocational and Educational Training (2004). Colin was elected to Fellowship of IAMBE in 2002.