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Professor Malcolm Johnston

A head and shoulders photo of a man named Malcolm Johnston pictured in a blue and white check shirt in front of leaves and grass outside, smiling at the camera

Professor Malcolm Johnston (MB.BS B.Sc(hons) MRCS FRCR SFHEA)

Chair of Radiology and Medical Education
E: m.johnston@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 876937

PA: Juliet Kneller
Email: j.kneller@bsms.ac.uk
Tel: 01273 876937

Area of expertise: Vascular, hepatobiliary and uro-gynae Interventional Radiology Medical Education – curriculum development

Research areas: Vascular IR techniques, complex biopsy techniques, embolisation techniques Pedagogy within radiology education,

Other faculty positions: Deputy Phase 2 lead, BSMS Academic lead for admissions, BSMS

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Biography

Malcolm is professor of radiology and medical education at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) leading all aspects of radiology and imaging anatomy education in the undergraduate course. He is the academic lead for medical school admissions and the deputy Phase 3 (year 5) lead.

He trained at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and at University College London.During higher training he undertook a fellowship in Interventional Radiology (IR) at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Malcolm is a consultant interventional radiologist at University Hospitals Sussex, where he has worked at both Brighton and Worthing hospitals since 2005. He specialises in vascular, hepatobiliary and uro-gynae procedures and was the lead Interventional Radiologist in the Trust between 2011 and 2019. In 2023 he was appointed to chair the Royal College of Radiologists IR committee leading the development of IR education, training and clinical practice across the UK. He sits on the council of the British Society of Interventional Radiology.

Malcolm is chair of the undergraduate radiology committee at the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and led the writing of a national undergraduate curriculum in radiology mapped to the new GMC medical licensing assessment. He is the only radiologist to set MLA examination questions for the Medical Schools Council Assessment Alliance. He also sits on the RCR Specialty Training Board and Curriculum committee

Outside medicine, Malcolm is a keen musician, playing the violin and piano, and previously was the conductor of the Hampstead Symphonia and Chorus. He is a keen (amateur!) classical composer, and has had a number of orchestral and choral compositions performed. Malcolm is a keen advocate of the public understanding of science and classical music and lectures at many festivals. He is a keen mountain biker and cricketer, and is a qualified skiing instructor.

Research

Malcolm’s research interests and mostly aligned to interventional radiology and medical education.Within the field of IR, Malcolm has undertaken clinical research on advanced endovascular procedures in the management of renal artery stenosis. He has published a number of studies on advanced biopsy techniques, and has taken part in multi-centre trials looking at uterine fibroid embolization, colonic stenting and endovascular management of peripheral vascular disease. He is currently on the safety monitoring committee for an NIHR funded study looking at ablation treatments for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. He has written book chapters on Pelvic anatomy and vascular imaging.

Within medical education, Malcolm has written a number of editorials on the increasing importance of radiology content in undergraduate medical training. He has published a number of imaging anatomy education studies in collaboration with the anatomy department at BSMS, and a comparative anatomy study in collaboration with the Zoology department at Zurich University. A major component of his new role at BSMS is the development of strong pedagogy within undergraduate radiology education.

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Teaching

Recent technological advances have made radiology central to all branches of clinical medicine. Since 2008 Malcolm has led the development of an undergraduate radiology curriculum through all 5 years of the BSMS course. He delivers the majority of radiology teaching and is active in all aspects of assessment and curriculum development.

As current Chair of the Undergraduate Committee of the Royal College of Radiologists, Malcolm has led the development of a new national curriculum in radiology in preparation for the MLA. In 2016 he wrote an undergraduate curriculum in IR that has received wide adoption nationally. Using his work on local and national curriculum development as case studies, he was awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2019.

Malcolm has long been an advocate of blended and technology enhanced learning, having introduced many web based, recorded and interactive learning techniques to his teaching at BSMS. In 2020 he was asked to lead a new national task force looking at the impact of Covid-19 on procedural training in radiology, and how we can utilise TEL and simulation to enhance remote learning. This led to a RCR publication ‘Radiology training – what good looks like, now and in the future’.

Selected publications

Editorial

“Interventional Radiology in the 21st century: Planning for the future” R Morgan, T Cleveland, M Hamady, R Uberoi, P Haslam, R Kasthuri, M Johnston, I McCafferty Clinical Radiology 76 (2021) 865-869

“Undergraduate Radiology Education: protecting our future” M Johnston Royal College of Radiologists Newsletter, Issue 138, Summer 2021

“Radiology training – what good looks like, now and in the future” Royal College of Radiologists publication 2022

“Roars, moans and groans: Anatomical correlates of vocal diversity in polygynous deer” R Frey, M Wyman, M Johnston, M Schofield, Y Locatelli, D Reby Journal of Anatomy 2021; 00:1-34

“Take away body parts! An investigation into the use of 3D-printed anatomical models in undergraduate anatomy education” C Smith, N Tollemarche, D Covill, M Johnston Anatomical Sciences Education (online) 00 month 2017

“Acute kidney injury on the intensive care unit: the use of TJ biopsy in aiding diagnosis” M Javid, M Johnston, L Forni Neth J of Critical Care Vol115, No2 p61-65 (2012)

“Multi-Centre survey of Radiologically Inserted Gastrostomy feeding tubes in the UK” Clinical Radiology 67 (2012) 843-854

Book Chapters

“MRCOG part 1 revision guide”: chapters 2, 3 and 4. D Lawrence-Watt, J Montgomery, M Johnston Cambridge university press, 2016. ISBN978-1-107-66713-6

“Gray’s surface anatomy and ultrasound”, chapter 2 expert reviewer. Elsevier publishing 2017 ISBN 13-978-0702070181

“Anatomy and Imaging of vascular disorders” Step course 2001, publication for Royal College of Surgeons M Johnston, S Babar, A Watkinson (chapter re-written for Step course revised edition 2007 M Johnston, N Davies).