A new £2million state-of-the-art medical imaging centre, set up to develop innovative diagnostic techniques in the battle against major illness and diseases such as cancer and brain and heart disease, was officially opened in Aberdeen today (Wednesday, May 9).
The University of Aberdeen’s new Lilian Sutton Building, based at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, was opened by Principal C Duncan Rice, on behalf of Mrs Sutton, who also attended the event.
The new centre is home to the latest Research MRI Scanner, which will be used to research the three main areas of disease supported by the Chief Scientist’s Office in Scotland.
Professor Rice said that he was honoured that Mrs Sutton had agreed to attend the opening of the new facility, which will help maintain the University’s position at the leading edge of medical imaging technology.
“I am delighted that Mrs Lilian Sutton is able to attend the opening of this new centre which has been named in her honour and to see the development of medical imaging techniques that her funding has provided. We have been given the opportunity to see today how this centre is developing innovative diagnostic techniques to help tackle major illnesses and diseases,” he said.
“This new facility is a major boost for the University’s world-renowned MRI Group and will enhance our on-going medical research. Given the magnificent contribution which Mrs Sutton and her late husband have provided to the University, it is highly appropriate that we name the building after Mrs Sutton.”
The Roland Sutton Academic Radiology Trust was set up in the late 1980s through generous donations from Mrs Sutton and her late husband Roland Sutton, to promote radiological research in Aberdeen for the benefit of the people of the North East of Scotland. Professor Fiona Gilbert was appointed to the Roland Sutton Chair of Radiology and heads the University’s Department of Radiology.
Professor Gilbert said that the Lilian Sutton Building embodies the unique partnership between the private and public sector, through the generosity of Mrs Sutton and the skill and expertise of scientific and medical teams in the city.
”I believe this new building in Aberdeen will foster high quality collaborative studies in both basic science and health care. Patients in Scotland and far beyond will ultimately benefit,” she added.
The new centre was commissioned following the award of a successful grant from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) for a state-of-the-art research magnetic resonance scanner by the University’s Radiology and Bio-medical Physics Departments to further imaging research into cardiovascular and neurological disease and cancer. Mrs Sutton and the Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust Endowments Committee also made further substantial donations towards the building.
The new centre shows the continuation of the development of MRI technology and its clinical use, which the Aberdeen team has been working on since the 1970s and which has made such a major contribution to medical research.
The University’s international contribution to the world of medicine reaches back to the establishment of the first Chair of Medicine in the English-speaking world at Aberdeen in 1497. In addition, Aberdeen is the only university in Scotland to have received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize 2000 in developing new techniques for medical imaging early this year.