Climbing ladders

Dee explained that her career had helped her to realise she can “climb different ladders,” and get a better perspective on her next steps. 

“I can see another ladder, and hop to that one, see if that one suits me, and if not then hop back again,” she said. “I’m so lucky that Elekta has been the sort of company that nurtures talent, and saw something in me, and it allowed me to do all these things. It’s not just about me personally, it’s about the environment you’re in.

Dee said she has always tried to drive the product strategy at Elekta, to prove value to healthcare providers, and to push innovation into the clinic.

She added that she knew of at least 15 radiographers who worked with her at Elekta that had gone into a broad range of future endeavours, including physics, product marketing, into research and development working with engineers to test and verify, or writing use cases for new products.

Dee described how in 2023 Elekta invited students from local colleges to visit the company during an event at which members of the Society of Radiographers were also present. Students were given a chance to meet officers, learn more about becoming a radiographer, and find out about the technology Elekta makes use of.

From this event, she explained, at least one student confirmed they would go on to study radiography.

“I want to inspire young people,” she continued. “If they look at my career and think, ‘radiography could take me anywhere’, then I’d be very happy.”

‘I just felt there was more’

Dee went to Sutton High School from 1970 to 1977 before taking on a therapeutic radiography degree at Guy’s Hospital in London from 1979 to 1982.  Following this she undertook her physics degree at London South Bank University, from 1984 to 1987.

“When I left school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Two places came up: physiotherapy at King’s College London, or radiotherapy at Guy’s Hospital. I preferred the look of Guy’s – that was how random it was! I’m really pleased I did, because radiotherapy is really fascinating.”

Following her radiography qualification, Dee continued on to stay in the department and complete a degree in physics.

She said: “Using imaging before treatment and during treatment, multileaf collimators which significantly improve shaping the beam to be more precise – all that good stuff, which radiographers today would already qualify with. When I was in training, we were using lead bricks and shadow trays. It fills me with horror. We didn’t even have computers for treatment planning, we had crayons and tracing paper.”

“I was interested in the technology,” she explained. “I just kept thinking there must be more accurate ways of treating patients than we were using. In the 1980s, when you were delivering radiation therapy, there was a real sense all you had to do was get the patient in the right treatment position.

“In the worst case, you were treating things you didn’t want to, so there were bad side effects. It wasn’t a great treatment. I just felt there was more to the technology.”

‘I’ve always pushed myself onto the next thing’

After graduation, Dee was recruited to Philips, where she became involved in innovating on the company’s radiotherapy technology.

On completion of her physics degree, Dee received a phone call from Philips, looking for someone to come in and train their engineers in the clinical side of the technology.

She started out doing quality assurance and servicing of the machines.

“They said, ‘you did physics, and you qualified as a Therapeutic Radiographer. So that’s a good combination.’ The rest is history. I wanted to learn the technology at Philips because at the time it was way more complicated than what we had at Guy’s Hospital, which was almost steam-driven. I felt I needed to learn it all to be credible, so I went and did some installations, I worked with the engineers.

“It was a very much male-dominated environment – but I came from a very female-dominated time at school and in the NHS, so it was quite a nice change. Now it’s a happy mix of both. It was always challenging, but that’s what I’ve liked about my career. I’ve always pushed myself on to the next thing and to be brave.”

Following such an expansive and fluid career, then, it only makes sense that Dee was recognised at the Dynamic Awards for her outstanding contributions to the profession and for her impressive work at Elekta.

Dee had been with Philips' radiotherapy division in Crawley for nine years when Swedish company Elekta purchased the unit in early 1997, which it has owned and operated ever since.

She said: “When they said Elekta wanted to buy us from Philips, there were quite a few of us who looked at each other and said 'who'? I was one of them.”

‘Glitz, glamour, and victorious celebration’

The Dynamic Awards celebrate the achievements of female business leaders across the South East, and was staged in April at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, hosted by comedian and TV star Suzi Ruffell.

During a “triumphant evening of glitz, glamour, entertainment and victorious celebration”, Dee was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award for her work at Elekta, with which she has been involved since 1987.

Upon receipt of her award, Dee expressed how shocked she was - she had been nominated for two other categories in the awards, Businesswoman of the Year and Inspiration Woman of the Year, rather than for Lifetime Achievement.

“To be a finalist in those two categories was special,” she said. “And then this lady came up from the University of Sussex, a professor, and she started talking, and my husband nudged me and said, ‘It sounds like she’s talking about you!’

“When my name was read out, my face must have been a picture, because I was thinking, ‘this is so much better than I thought I was going to get!’ I’m enormously proud, and so thrilled to go up and receive something like that. It’s sort of the pinnacle of everything.”