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Prof Mattheus Lötter, former Head of the Department of Medical Physics and Chief Director at the University of the Free State (UFS), was honoured with the prestigious UFS Chancellor’s Medal for outstanding service during the university’s December graduation ceremonies.

Prof Lötter received the Chancellor’s Medal from the Faculty of Health Sciences during the Friday (8 December 2023) graduation ceremony. The conferral was postponed from the April 2023 graduation ceremonies due to a personal loss experienced by Prof Lötter.

“It is a great honour. I did not expect it, as I have been retired for so long now. I was really surprised when I got a call from Prof (Francis) Petersen (Vice-Chancellor and Principal) to say that I was receiving this medal,” said Prof Lötter after the ceremony.

Great being at the UFS

According to him, it was great to be back at the UFS. He was impressed with the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Medical Physics, which he joined in 1972 as part of the joint staff of the UFS and Provincial Administration shortly after it was established.

The Chancellor’s Medal is awarded for outstanding service or achievement at local, national, or international level, or for service to the community or the university.

Prof Lötter holds a BSc, BScHons, and MSc in Physics as well as a PhD in Medical Sciences from Stellenbosch University. He started in medical physics at Addington Hospital in 1962, and in 1965 he registered as medical physicist with the Health Professions Board.

In 1975, he was awarded the Fogarty International Postdoctoral Fellowship for research in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1980, to Professor in 1982, and served from 1990 to 2004 as Head of the Department of Medical Physics and Chief Director.

Represented medical physicists

Prof Lötter represented medical physicists in the Health Professions Council from 1981 to retirement in 2004. During this period, educational standards and ethical rules for the medical physics profession were approved.

The required academic training and internship were successfully applied, and the Department of Medical Physics became the leading training centre and provided quality professional service at the Universitas Academic Hospital. The quality of training is reflected by the many senior positions in medical physics held by former students.

Prof Lötter was a member, as well as board member and president of the following scientific societies for a term: SA Association of Physicists in Medicine and Biology, and the SA Society of Nuclear Medicine. He was a member of the USA Society of Nuclear Medicine from 1972 to 2004.

He was appointed by the Minister of Health as member of the council of the South African Medical Research Council from 1991 to 1994.