Stephen Pistorius

Stephen Pistorius is a South African-Canadian academic and medical physicist.

Pistorius is currently a full professor at the University of Manitoba, where he is the founder and Director of its Medical Physics program. His research focuses on microwave imaging for the detection and treatment of breast cancer, including novel image reconstruction techniques and imaging applications in orthopaedics and radiation therapy.

Pistorius previously served as Provincial Director of Medical Physics at CancerCare Manitoba, the province's cancer screening and treatment institute. He also served as President of the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (2006-2008) and of the Canadian Association of Physicists (2017-2018). In 2025, he was awarded the Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics.

He is the author of more than 300 publications and presentations and is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including over $4.5 million in national research grants.

Early life Pistorius was born in Durban, South Africa. After earning a B.Sc. in Physics & Geography from the University of Natal in 1977, he was conscripted into the Engineering Corps of the South African army.

Following his national service, Pistorius worked in industry in Cape Town, installing South Africa's first industrial linear accelerator in 1980.

Pistorius subsequently returned to Stellenbosch, where he obtained a Ph.D. in physics in 1991. He initially focused on clinical therapy, and was tasked with improving Manitoba's underdeveloped medical physics capabilities.

Within a short time, Pistorius was invited to join the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Manitoba, an appointment which he credits as having "started [his] research career". – in 2000.

In 2002, Pistorius was licensed as a professional physicist (P.Phys.) by the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP), and received a second academic appointment as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine's Department of Radiology.

Pistorius has maintained his certification as a medical physicist and his licence as a professional physicist. and has contributed to developing medical physics programs in the US, UK, Ireland, South Africa, India, Nigeria, and Portugal. scatter-enhanced x-ray and gamma ray emissions, Pistorius and his team have been developing breast cancer screening devices for use in developing countries or remote locations, where the technology to conduct mammograms, ultrasounds, or MRI scans is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive where routine mammography rates are declining and where an additional "pre-screen" device would improve times for diagnosis and treatment (and therefore rates of survival). In 2016, the team's "Comfort Wave Mobile Imaging" device was submitted for Health Canada approval before beginning clinical trials. Pistorius subsequently secured Class 3 licensing for the device, which is now being tested using 3D-printed, anatomically accurate breast phantoms. 2025, Peter Kirkby Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to Canadian Physics.