PhD student nominated among great Britons

PhD student and 3-D graphic artist John McGhee has been nominated as a Morgan Stanley Great Briton of 2007.

John, who also lectures at Duncan of Jordanstone College, has been nominated in the Science & Innovation category of the prestigious awards, which recognise and celebrate outstanding British achievement over the past year.

"I was totally surprised when I found out about this as I'm not even sure how the nomination has come about but it is a real honour, especially when you see some of the names who have been nominated and won in the past," said John, who is originally from Edinburgh.

"It's great when your work starts getting this kind of attention. I am working in an area where I feel there is great potential to develop new ideas, but it is still fairly early days in bringing these to fulfilment. But getting this kind of exposure can only help."

John has developed a series of 3D computer animation tools which show anatomical images in a form which can be easily understood by patients. The images have the potential to be used as a means of improving patient disease understanding and enhance medical training.

His work has attracted international attention, both from clinicians and from the art world while initial trials with patients in Dundee have provided hugely encouraging results.

Prior to his PhD research John successfully completed an MSc in Animation and Visualisation at the University's School of Media Arts and Imaging, exploring the relevance of creative 3D Visualisation and Animation technologies in Medical Imaging.