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Let’s look back at the 2007 winner and the developments for him since that time. “As an academic it’s really important to get industry recognition for your inventions and developments.” Dr Constantin Coussios, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford – winner of the Young Persons’ Award for Innovation in Acoustical Engineering 2007 – sponsored by IAC Limited. The year after winning the award was action-packed for young Dr Constantin-C Coussios MIOA who took first prize. Constantin is a researcher at the Department of Engineering Science within the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford. His cancer therapy-enhancing technology uses high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to reduce heat damage of good cells lying around a tumour being treated. His innovation has been attracting a great deal of international attention since that time. Recent NHS funding allowed clinical trials to test the development on real patients – the foundation for commercial application in the future. Soon after winning the Award, Constantin became a father and he and his wife Niki took their 6-month-old son on their winning weekend in Barcelona, generously provided by Award sponsor, IAC. The winning weekendHere is Constantin’s account. “We were delighted to be able to take our weekend trip in May, having had to put it off a number of times – small baby reasons. Our thanks to Colette at IAC for changing the dates several times and for choosing the Regina hotel in Barcelona which was a spot on location for us – right in the middle of things. “We had a wonderful dinner on the Friday evening on the Plaza Real and strolled through the old city and awoke on Saturday to sunshine and blue skies. It was my wife’s, and of course, Dimitri’s, first visit to Barcelona so we walked Las Ramblas in the morning and saw various stunning landmarks by Catalan’s architectural genius Antoni Gaudi, including the Sagrada Familia church. We made it uphill – just about - with the pram to the Park Guell by early evening – it gives a fabulous view out over the city. “Later on we were treated to a first-class dinner at Casa Calvet Restaurant – thanks again to IAC. Casa Calvet is in a stunning building created for a textile manufacturer by Gaudi. It was a marvellous evening – the food, the ambiance – and other than our dear screaming baby – was such a romantic occasion! “The next day we took in the sights including the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Santa Eulalia Cathedral in the old town, and then we went to the Zoo. Dimitri was most impressed by the size of the giraffes! We eked out every last minute and left it rather late to find a taxi and made it to the airport by the skin of our teeth. “I was thrilled to be able to take my family away to such a lovely location for a few days. It was a great prize and we really made the most of it.” Immediate Past President of the Institute of Acoustics, Colin English said: “We are delighted that Constantin enjoyed the weekend part of his prize and are most grateful for him donating his £500 cash prize provided by IAC, back to us. This will be awarded for the best paper presented by a young medical acoustician in our Spring 2009 conference.” Reader of Oxford UniversityAround the same time as the Award ceremony in 2007, the BBC carried a piece on Constantin’s invention on the BBC Science website which brought a flood of journalists’ enquiries. Constantin has since been made a Reader of Oxford University which is a huge honour, especially at such a young age. This ‘recognition of distinction’ is for contributions to science that are of benefit to mankind.
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