Medibord is a 2010 Da Vinci Award Winner

Medibord Ltd, designer and manufacturer of patient positioning boards for use in MRI scanners and radiotherapy treatments, announced the innovative Medibord oncology couch top has won a 2010 Da Vinci Award from the University of Loughborough.
The Da Vinci Awards bring together scientists, engineers, clinicians and industry leaders to promote ground-breaking improvements in patient care. The Award program recognises the most innovative developments in healthcare technology and aims to stimulate knowledge exchange and innovation across the wider East Midlands region in memory of Professor Peter Smith, a Loughborough academic working at the forefront of health technology innovation.
“We are delighted to have been awarded a 2010 Da Vinci Award – a great honour from an esteemed institute such as the University of Loughborough,” said Medibord CEO Jonathan Richards.
Launched in 2009, Medibord is a uniquely radio-translucent, MR compatible composite created in partnership with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) to improve radiotherapy positioning accuracy. It was developed in response to its oncologists’ needing to fuse CT and MR scans in order to improve the treatment of diseases such as prostate cancer.
As Medibord can be custom-shaped, NUH was able to retro-fit bespoke flat couch tops to its MR scanners and position patients with repeated precision to facilitate CT and MR image fusion. This has enabled NUH oncologists to achieve their long-term goal of precisely outlining prostate cancer patient scans.
The 2010 Da Vinci Awards were presented on 22nd March 2010 at the Sir Dennis Rooke Building on Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park at a ceremony attended by 120 representatives from East Midlands’ hospitals, universities, regional innovation partners and healthcare industries. Guests were welcomed by Professor Shirley Pearce, Loughborough University’s Vice Chancellor and the evening was hosted by BBC East Midlands Today news presenter Anne Davies.
Medibord is now working closely with MRI scanner equipment manufacturers to produce specific equipment for them. In the near future Medibord aims to produce a new range of boards for CT scanners and is also looking to cultivate its interest in the healthcare sector with a new LED suspended ceiling light technology.
The development of Medibord has been supported by Medilink East Midlands and the Healthcare & Bioscience iNet and UK Trade and Investment.