Rupert J Ward - Curriculum Vitae

Personal details

Name: /

Rupert John Ward

/ Date of birth: / 12th July 1966
Address: / 10 Stevens Avenue, / Nationality: / British
Hackney, London E9 6RX / Languages: / a little Spanish
Email: /
Phone: / 02089860814 or 07769701273 / Clean driving license

Education

2004 / PhD. in Anatomy and Human Morphology: “Assessment of radiographic tibiofemoral joint space width measurements: reproducibility and practicability for clinical trials in osteoarthritis”. University of London (KCL). See ‘Employment record’ below for details.
1993 / MSc. in Cognitive Science & Intelligent Computing (distinction) University of Westminster
Modules: / Artificial intelligence programming
Artificial neural networks
Linguistics
Visual processing & computer vision
Natural language processing
Finite element analysis
Project: “Implementing Koenderink’s receptive field families on discrete arrays”. Undertaken in Dr ACF Colchester’s research group in the Dept of Neurology at Guy’s Hospital Medical School. I developed a genetic algorithm in C++ and applied it to the task of finding the optimal discrete spatial filter for approximating convolution with an arbitrary continuous kernel function.
1989 / BA (Hons) in Mathematics & Philosophy (2:1) Balliol College, Oxford University
Finals papers: / Pure & applied algebra
Integration & transform theory
Complex analysis & topology
Functional analysis
Logic & set theory
History of philosophy from Descartes to Kant
Philosophical questions (philosophies of maths, science and logic)
Later philosophy of Wittgenstein
Dissertation on epistemological pragmatism
1983/84 / 5 ‘A’ levels in Pure Maths (A), Physics (A), Chemistry (B), English (B), and Art (E)

Programming skills

C++ in unix/linux (X-windows) & MS Windows (MFC). As part of my work at KCL I developed a large modular graphical package for fast and flexible implementations (both automated and interactive) of image-processing algorithms, which has been used in several large international clinical trials.
Java. My work at Sussex involves the development and implementation of image-processing algorithms in Java, for command-line use as well as linking with Jython-based and other external user interfaces.
Perl/HTML/XML/Javascript/cgi. I have been running a successful web site in my spare time since 1994 (it was one of the very first football sites on the internet). This includes a news database written in perl, in which different authors can submit news stories which are then converted to HTML, XML (RSS feed), and WML versions (this was created before the advent of the now-ubiquitous blogging and content management systems).
I also have experience of unix/linux system administration; various debuggers including Eclipse, gdb, ddd; and other languages including IDL (interactive data language), SQL, BASIC, PROLOG, assembly language, basic Java, MATLAB, and various scripting languages.

Other software packages which I have used over the years include statistical packages (Stata, Systat, SPSS), Excel, MS-Word, Wordperfect, LaTex, Mathematica, Access, Informix, Powerpoint, CorelDraw, WordPerfect, MathCad, Gimp, Paint Shop Pro, TopCat, ds9. I have extensive experience of interfacing code with 3rd party libraries.

Employment record

September 2007
to present
(contracted till end of October 2008): / Research Associate,
Astronomy Centre, Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton,
East Sussex, BN1 9QH

SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver) is an astronomical instrument designed to make spectral and photometric observations at far infrared/submillimetre wavelengths to be carried on the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. I have been employed to produce Java implementations of point source detection algorithms for analysis of the sky maps produced by the instrument, including validation, testing, and documentation. The algorithms are being incorporated into the project’s Jython-based user interface, as well as in stand-alone programs.

November 1993
to October 2006: / Research Associate,
Applied Clinical Anatomy Department,
King’s College London (Guy’s Hospital campus)

The Applied Clinical Anatomy department at Guys was at the forefront of radiographic measurement of bone and joint disease for many years. Particular successes were the development and validation of measurements of joint spaces and bone texture from digitised radiographs, in particular for application in clinical trials of osteoarthritis. Our mensural and radiographic methods for measurement of tibiofemoral joint space width became the industry standard and have been used in large multinational clinical trials.

My role in the group included the design, implementation, documentation and validation (to meet FDA audit requirements) of a variety of measurement algorithms (including tibiofemoral and hip joint-space width, osteophyte area, fractal signature texture analysis, subchondral cortical thickening); considerable involvement in the design, monitoring, and analysis of radiographic studies; training and management of measurement operators; liaison with pharmaceutical companies (including explaining mathematical/statistical/scientific concepts to groups of lay-people from a variety of backgrounds); writing of measurement protocols and standard operating procedures; statistical analyses of study data and sample size determination, and supervision/support of students (PhD, MSc, intercalated BSc.). I was the statistician for the group, and provided technical support of various kinds (including statistics, maths, programming, scientific research methodology, computer systems administration), to the head of department and other researchers.

The department closed at the end of September 2006. At this time I was working on a new experimental microfocal CT set, which involved writing an MFC GUI for acquisition of projection images, incorporating interaction with a frame-grabber and the stepper-motors driving the CT turntable. Unfortunately, we ran out of time.

Autumn 1989
to Summer 1992: / Mathematics teaching,
Various private colleges in Oxford

Between my first degree and my masters, I worked in private schools (‘crammers’) teaching maths to people of all ages from 7 to 60, up to A level standard, mostly individually but also a couple of classes of about 15 students who I took to A level Pure and Applied.

Other activities

I have been involved in organising pool teams at county/regional level for some years, as vice-chair and secretary, and am currently captain of the London ‘A’ team. At college in Oxford I was president of the Junior Common Room for a year, a role involving negotiation with college authorities, management of staff, and chairing of large and often hostile open meetings. I have been running a popular football website since 1994, using my own news database system, and have been involved in other internet projects.

References

1 / Dr SJ Oliver PhD
Astronomy Centre,
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Sussex,
Falmer, Brighton,
East Sussex BN1 9QH

01273 678852
Dr Oliver is my current employer / 2 / Professor JC Buckland-Wright PhD DSc,
Applied Clinical Anatomy Dept,
Hodgkin Building, 4th floor,
KCL, Guy’s Hospital Campus,
London Bridge, London SE1 1UL

020 7848 8035
Prof. Buckland-Wright was my employer at Guys/KCL. / 3 / Charles Bird MD PhD,
Policy Adviser, MOD,
J9, Rm 401 NCC,
Northwood HQ,
Sandy Lane, Northwood.
MIDDLESEX, HA6 3HP

020 7218 3436
Dr Bird worked with me at Guys for many years and was my line manager for a while.

A list of publications is available on request.

Publications

Ward RJ and Buckland-Wright JC. Rates of tibiofemoral joint space narrowing in osteoarthritis consistent despite methodological differences. Osteoarthritis Cart 2008. [In press]

Ward RJ, Buckland-Wright JC, and Wolfe F. Relationships between tibial rim alignment and joint space width measurement reproducibility in non-fluoroscopic radiographs of osteoarthritic knees. Osteoarthritis Cart 2005; 13: 945-52.

Messent EA, Ward RJ, Tonkin CJ, and Buckland-Wright JC. Osteophytes, juxta-articular radiolucencies and cancellous bone changes in the proximal tibia of patients with osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis Cart 2007; 15(2): 179-86.

Buckland-Wright JC, Messent EA, Bingham III CO, Ward RJ, and Tonkin C. A 2 year longitudinal radiographic study examining the effect of a bisphosphonate (rsedronate) upon subchondral bone loss in osteoarthritic knee patients. Rheumatol 2007; 46(2): 257-64.

Messent EA, Ward RJ, Tonkin CJ, and Buckland-Wright JC. Differences in trabecular structure between knees with and without osteoarthritis quantified by macro and standard radiography, respectively. Osteoarthritis Cart 2006; 14(12): 1302-5.

Messent EA, Ward RJ, Tonkin CJ, and Buckland-Wright JC. Cancellous bone differences between knees with early, definite, and advanced joint space loss; a comparative quantitative macroradiographic study. Osteoarthritis Cart 2005; 13: 39-47.

Messent EA, Ward RJ, Tonkin CJ, and Buckland-Wright JC. Tibial cancellous bone changes in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a short-term longitudinal study using Fractal Signature Analysis. Osteoarthritis Cart 2005; 13: 463-70.

Papaloucas CD, Ward RJ, Tonkin CJ, and Buckland-Wright JC. Cancellous bone changes in hip osteoarthritis: a short-term longitudinal study using fractal signature analysis. Osteoarthritis Cart 2005; 13: 998-1003.

Buckland-Wright JC, Ward RJ, Peterfy C, Mojcik CF, and Leff RL. Reproducibility of the semi-flexed (MTP) radiographic knee position and automated measurements of medial tibiofemoral joint space width in a multicentre clinical trial of osteoarthritis. J Rheumatol 2004; 31: 1588-97.

Buckland-Wright JC, Bird CF, Ritter-Hrnicik CA, Cline GA, Tonkin C, Hangartner TN, Ward RJ, Meyer JM, and Meredith MP. X-ray technologists’ reproducibility from automated measurements of the medial tibiofemoral joint space width in knee osteoarthritis for a multicenter, multinational clinical trial. J.Rheumatol 2003; 30: 328-38

Mazzuca SA, Brandt KD, Buckland-Wright JC, Buckwalter KA, Katz BP, Lynch JA, Ward RJ, and Emsley CL. Field test of the reproducibility of automated measurements of the medial tibiofemoral joint space width derived from standardized knee radiographs. J Rheumatol 1999; 26: 1359-65

Buckland-Wright JC, Wolfe F, Ward RJ, Flowers N, and Hayne C. Substantial superiority of semi-flexed (MTP) views in knee osteoarthritis: a comparative radiographic study, without fluoroscopy, of standing extended, semi-flexed (MTP) and schuss views. J Rheumatol 1999; 26: 2664-74

Buckland-Wright JC, Macfarlane DG, Williams SA, and Ward RJ. Accuracy and precision of joint space width measurements in standard and macroradiographs of osteoarthritic knees. Ann Rheum Dis 1995; 54: 872-80.

Ward RJ, Buckland-Wright JC, Macfarlane DG, and Williams S. Radio-anatomic positioning and radiographic magnification correction improve joint space width measurement in osteoarthritis knees [Poster Abstract]. Roentgen Centenary Congress 1995 (British Institute of Radiology)