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Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine
Research area
Hepatocellular and Neuroendocrine Cancer.
Research programme
Research summary
My main research interest is cancer drug development, with a particular focus on Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and Neuroendocrine Tumours (NET). I run a specialist clinic in these tumour types at the Royal Free Hospital and an ‘Early-Phase Trial’ Clinic at the NIHR Wellcome UCH Clinical Research Facility.
In addition to leading an extensive clinical trial portfolio, I have integrated biomarker research into my clinical practice and this has increasingly focused on the role of Circulating Tumour Cell (CTCs) as predictive and prognostic markers of disease.
My current research projects include defining the role of CTCs as pharmacodynamic markers and surrogates for molecular profiling of tumours in the context of drug development.
Patient involvement
The Royal Free Hospital Hepatocellular Cancer clinic is a multidisciplinary clinic providing expertise from Oncology, Hepatology and Surgery. It is supported by a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Research nurses and patient management is discussed at weekly Multidisciplinary meetings. Around 120 new patients are seen annually and a full range of therapeutic interventions are offered including transplantation, surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation, particle embolisation, radioembolisation and systemic drug therapy. Additionally, patients are offered participation in a wide range of research projects and therapeutic trials in order to improve outcomes from this disease.
For Neuroendocrine Tumours, a dedicated Oncology clinic runs in parallel to that run by Prof Martyn Caplin providing patients access to comprehensive range of treatment options. The Royal Free Hospital was the first European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society Centre of Excellence in the UK and has an internationally recognised research profile linked to the UCL Cancer Institute. A broad portfolio of clinical trials is available and patients are supported both by dedicated research nurses and clinical nurse specialists.