I am working in medical image processing at the Centre for Magnetic Resonance, at UQ.

I used to wonder about mathematics and my future. Now I realise my work may save a person’s life - that says a lot about the crucial nature of mathematics.

I graduated from The University of Queensland with degrees in engineering and mathematics and finished with a PhD in mathematical research. Initially I was concerned that if I followed mathematics, I’d end up working in a field that was totally separate from the ‘real world’, but now I see these concerns as naive.

Currently, I’m working at UQ’s Centre for Magnetic Resonance. Two exciting projects I am involved in are the study of stroke patients, where we use Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) and statistical mixture modelling to predict the progress of the patient, and a cardiac project, where MRIs are taken of the patient’s beating heart, and from these we construct models to assess heart strain.

I am privileged to see mathematics in the work of doctors, psychologists, physicists and engineers here at the Centre. I see now that mathematics is fundamental to a pursuit of all of these careers.

Maths is beautifully simple when you look at the patterns it produces. But it’s more than just a nice brainteaser. I can meet the patients whose images I have displayed on my computer screen and know that the work I am currently doing may save that person’s life.