ADVANCE
The magazine for the UK’s only Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to cancer
Spring/Summer 2021
Digital diagnosis How our researchers are harnessing the power of AI in cancer imaging
A bright future
Drug development
Head start
Decoding DNA
Our plans for progress in four key areas
Taking new treatments from bench to bedside
Driving research in head and neck cancer
The key to predicting prostate cancer risk
Contents 04 Forefront The latest research news 07 All in the genes Professor Ros Eeles on genetic testing for prostate cancer
As the UK’s only Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to cancer, our mission is the rapid translation of advances in research to improve the outcomes for patients with cancer through precision treatment.
08 Ready for the future How we’re forging ahead in four new areas of research 11 Q&A Professor Vinidh Paleri on recurrent head and neck cancer 12 Drug development in action A look at three novel cancer treatments developed and trialled at the BRC
This is our ‘bench to bedside’ approach.
14 Hearing new voices Introducing our patient and public involvement platform 15 Profile Dr Christina Messiou, Consultant Radiologist Editorial advisory board Professor David Cunningham Director of the NIHR BRC Professor Paul Workman Chief Executive and President, the ICR
Groundbreaking research
World-class facilities
Training and development
Patient and public involvement
Across eight themes, we translate our findings into advances in treatments for cancer patients.
Including the Drug Development Unit, Centre for Molecular Pathology and West Wing Clinical Research Centre.
We are the UK’s largest training centre for oncology, with a proud history of championing women in medical research.
We incorporate and integrate the perspectives of patients, carers and the public into our research.
The Biomedical Research Centre is a partnership between The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research, London. Together, we receive funding from the National Institute for Health Research. Find out more: cancerbrc.org | royalmarsden.nhs.uk | icr.ac.uk | nihr.ac.uk
Professor Nicholas Turner Team Leader, the ICR, and Consultant, The Royal Marsden Dr Naureen Starling Associate Director of Clinical Research, The Royal Marsden Rachael Reeve Director of Marketing and Communications, The Royal Marsden
Welcome to the latest edition of Advance, which highlights the worldleading work carried out through the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR) – the only BRC in the UK dedicated solely to cancer. In this issue, we hear about four key areas of focus for our BRC in the coming years: artificial intelligence in imaging, early diagnosis, surgical research and biotherapeutics. New ‘hubs’ will bring together teams from different departments to drive forward our work in these areas. We also look at three examples of drug trials that illustrate our ‘bench to bedside’ approach to research, hear about a new genetic test that could transform the treatment of prostate cancer, and find out about the research aims of the new International Centre for Recurrent Head & Neck Cancer. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Advance.
Abby Samuel Head of PR and Communications, The Royal Marsden Richard Hoey Director of Communications, the ICR Published in partnership with Sunday: wearesunday.com
Cover photograph: Dr Christina Messiou, Consultant Radiologist at The Royal Marsden © The Royal Marsden 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without prior permission of the Editor. The Royal Marsden and Sunday accept no responsibility for the views expressed by contributors to the magazine. Some photographs in this issue were taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and may not reflect social distancing and PPE guidelines. Repro by F1 Colour. Printed by Geoff Neal Group.
Professor David Cunningham Director of the NIHR BRC at The Royal Marsden and the ICR and Consultant Medical Oncologist
CANCERBRC.ORG 3
FOREFRONT
FOREFRONT
Two studies aim to refine radiotherapy
Patients with blood cancers could be more vulnerable to the virus that causes COVID-19
Improving the effectiveness of radiotherapy has been the focus of two promising strands of research at the ICR and The Royal Marsden.
For example, the study has identified that patients with blood cancers have specific defects that affect their immune response, which could make them more vulnerable to COVID-19. Additionally, the study is evaluating the vaccine response in cancer patients. More than 500 vaccinated patients, including 100 with blood cancers, have been enrolled.
Antiseptic injection In one early clinical trial, our scientists, in collaboration with colleagues in Japan, found that injecting a gel solution of hydrogen peroxide – a common antiseptic – could enhance the cancerkilling effects of radiotherapy. In tumours, this simple molecule breaks down into water and oxygen, and reduces the resistance of oxygen-starved cancer cells to radiotherapy. The Phase 2 KORTUC trial, led by Chief Investigator Dr Navita Somaiah, Clinician Scientist at the ICR and a clinical oncologist
Using AI to diagnose lung disease
Researchers at The Royal Marsden and the ICR are forging ahead with research that explores the connections between COVID-19 and cancer.
Understanding cancer patients’ immune response Launched last year, the CAPTURE study, led by Dr Samra Turajlic, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The 4 ADVANCE
CAPTURE is also evaluating the vaccine response in cancer patients
Royal Marsden, has detected a wide range of antibody levels and COVID-19-specific T cells in cancer patients. These levels were generally comparable to those found in people who do not have cancer. However, the potential impact of cancer type on patients’ immune response must still be considered for further analysis.
Further reading • royalmarsden.nhs.uk/capturecovid-19-antiviral-responsepan-tumour-immune-study
The treatment could improve radiotherapy for millions around the world
Fewer, larger doses Another study, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in The Lancet Oncology, has found that giving people with bladder cancer fewer but larger doses of radiation reduces the risk of their disease returning and means fewer hospital trips. The study shows that people with bladder cancer can receive the same or even better results in a shorter course of radiotherapy that is delivered over four weeks, versus the longer course over six-and-a-half weeks. Further reading • kortuc.com • doi.org/10.1016/S14702045(20)30607-0
Radiotherapy could be enhanced by an injection of hydrogen peroxide or fewer but larger doses Image: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
COVID-19 research goes on
The OCTAPUS-AI study, led by Dr Richard Lee, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at The Royal Marsden, is analysing more than 900 cancer patient scans using artificial intelligence. The aim of the study is to provide clinicians with information on whether changes in the lung are due to COVID-19, another infection or a side effect of treatment. An additional goal is to diagnose subtle changes of lung cancer recurrence sooner so that it might be treated earlier and more effectively.
at The Royal Marsden, is now under way at five UK hospitals, including The Royal Marsden, with plans to open the trial in two centres in India. The gel is cheap and easy to produce and store, so if it proves to be effective, the treatment could be quickly rolled out to improve radiotherapy for millions of patients around the world.
Three-drug combination shows promise in breast cancer A ‘triplet therapy’ combining hormone treatment with two targeted drugs is safe and effective for some patients with previously treated advanced breast cancer, a clinical trial led by researchers at the ICR and The Royal Marsden shows. The regimen, which combines the hormone therapy fulvestrant with the targeted drugs palbociclib and taselisib, blocks cells from multiplying and dividing. A total of 78 patients with breast or other cancers were enrolled in the trial and given either the triplet therapy or a ‘doublet’ therapy of the targeted drugs without fulvestrant. The triplet therapy showed particular promise in the 25 patients with advanced and previously treated oestrogen-receptor positive, HER2-negative breast cancer with mutations in the PIK3CA gene – the most common mutation in this type of breast cancer – with more than a third of patients responding. The potential for the therapy will be explored in future research. Further reading • cancerdiscovery. aacrjournals.org/ content/11/1/92 CANCERBRC.ORG 5
FOREFRONT
EXPERT VOICE
Lisa Emery, The Royal Marsden’s Chief Information Officer
All in the genes
Digital projects set to transform trial management The NIHR BRC is running two projects that aim to revolutionise clinical trial management as part of a digital transformation drive to improve ways of working. By improving data management and reducing paperwork and setup times, both projects will give staff rapid access to the data and the tools they need to allow radical new approaches in cancer research, which could benefit the lives of thousands of patients. 6 ADVANCE
Our researchers have worked with content services provider Hyland on a digital solution to paperwork-heavy clinical trial management. The project has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which posed difficulties for researchers who needed to access trial information that is currently kept as paper copies. Digital and research teams have worked together to design a bespoke software solution,
“The Trust has a responsibility to ensure that it is a test bed of best practice”
using the OnBase platform, that enables agile working and allows pharmaceutical companies to remotely check the governance of the trials they sponsor. In a second project, the BRC is working with Agilisys, a public-sector technology provider, to set up a new cloud-based service to provide a modern and future-proofed system for storing, organising and analysing patient and clinical data. The aim is to use this system to provide insights, facilitate discoveries and help inform important decisions. Lisa Emery, Chief Information Officer at The Royal Marsden, said: “As a specialist provider, The Royal Marsden has a responsibility to innovate and ensure that it can act as a test bed of best practice for the NHS. “The Trust has a history of trialling new digital solutions. We are proud that, as a large research institution, we can also implement innovative technology for research data management that others in the NHS can take forward. “Producing a paperless solution while also investing in an enhanced system to improve how staff and stakeholders interact with data and analytics will help us to continue delivering high standards of patient care.”
Thanks to funding from the NIHR, a new genetic test could transform the treatment of prostate cancer, says Professor Ros Eeles, the BRC’s Prostate Cancer theme lead
Prostate cancer affects one in every eight men in the UK and kills almost 12,000 every year. And half of cases occur because of genetic factors. In the past two decades, there has been a huge international effort to understand what these genetic factors are and how they influence the development and progression of disease. We’ve discovered that you can tell a lot about a man’s prostate cancer risk by looking for the presence or absence of specific letters among the billions in his DNA code. Having just one particular letter in a particular place – known as a polymorphism – makes very little difference, but we know that risk is highly increased for men who have lots of them.
We’ve developed a test that screens for around 170 of these polymorphisms and can spot men at particularly high risk of developing prostate cancer, enabling us to offer prostate cancer screening to them. We’ve also developed another test that screens men for rare genetic changes that increase the risk of having a more aggressive form of the disease, such as mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. This combined test can be used in both unaffected men to identify those at higher risk of prostate cancer and for men who already have the disease, to target specific treatments for them. Furthermore, we’re now at the point where we think our test could be useful in routine healthcare. Thanks to a new £3-million grant from the NIHR, we are going to test 1,000 men who are at risk of prostate cancer and 1,000 who have the disease. Men without prostate cancer but who are identified to be at increased risk of aggressive types of the disease will be offered targeted screening, with scans, biopsies and blood tests. Men diagnosed with prostate cancer will have the chance to join clinical trials of promising treatments. We will track all men at risk of the most aggressive disease types for up to five years to assess the impact of testing. Genetic testing involves exploring emotive and potentially distressing topics. During our programme, we’ll ensure that patients have the support they need, including during and after their interviews to discuss test results, and access to additional counselling services. We’re also developing a webbased educational resource, led by our brilliant patient and public
involvement representatives. Thanks to support from the NIHR BRC, our clinic at The Royal Marsden has long involved patients in research, and the new grant will enable us to build on this work. The screening programme could make a big difference to the future of prostate cancer treatment in the NHS and beyond. If successful, it will lead to earlier diagnosis and more personalised treatment, with the potential to save many lives.
“You can tell a lot about a man’s prostate cancer risk by looking in his DNA”
CANCERBRC.ORG 7 CANCERBRC.ORG 07
Miss Jennifer Rusby is spearheading new surgical research
SUPPORTING OUR WORK
Supported by donations from The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, The Royal Marsden’s research programme is aligned with the key priorities of the BRC and supports it in achieving its aims. In 2017, the Charity committed a £15-million grant to Professor David Cunningham, Director of the NIHR BRC. The grant has been essential, helping to finance locations such as The Royal Marsden’s Clinical Trials Unit, the Centre for Molecular Pathology (CMP), the Biobank and the West Wing Clinical Research Facility, and enabling the BRC to fund innovative flagship research projects and set up initial infrastructure in early diagnosis and cell therapy. More recently, the Charity has pledged a further £5 million
over 2021-22 to boost the centre’s work across the key areas of early diagnosis, biotherapeutics, artificial intelligence (AI) and surgical research.
Early diagnosis In partnership with the ICR and working closely with the RM Partners Cancer Alliance, The Royal Marsden is leading on the establishment of an Early Diagnosis and Detection Centre, which aims to accelerate early diagnosis and improve outcomes for patients. Early-diagnosis research leads Professor Ros Eeles, Dr Richard Lee and Professor Stan Kaye are leading discussions to create an expert centre that will bring together early-detection research and expertise across multiple
The Royal Marsden’s research programme is aligned with the BRC’s priorities
Ready for the future The Royal Marsden is preparing to make progress in four key areas of research. Here’s what we aim to achieve in the coming years 8 ADVANCE
Early diagnosis research lead Dr Richard Lee
Dr Andrew Furness is leading research into cellular therapy for solid cancers
T cells harnessed Patient Heather Davey, 59, was treated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy for lymphoma at The Royal Marsden in January 2020. Her T cells were harvested and sent to the USA for modification, before being reinfused into her. “Six months after treatment, I had a PET scan and found out I was in remission,” she says. “It was so reassuring to hear. I know CAR-T is new and clinicians are still learning, but I am glad I had it, as it has saved my life.” CANCERBRC.ORG 9
Q&A
SUPPORTING OUR WORK
tumour groups, recruit for new specialist roles and set up a new clinical trials infrastructure. Dr Lee, Consultant Respiratory Physician and Champion for Early Diagnosis at The Royal Marsden, says: “The Early Diagnosis and Detection Centre will be key to achieving earlier-stage clinical diagnoses and will ultimately help us save lives. “The centre will focus on novel liquid biopsy technologies to aid detection, AI and imaging for more accurate diagnoses, as well as advanced risk stratification science using genetics and ‘big data’ approaches to identify high-risk groups who will benefit most from early diagnosis.”
such as early detection, operative procedures (including minimally invasive surgery) and impact on survivorship. It will also focus on perioperative medicine (care before, during and after surgery), including pain management, personalised risk stratification and research into sepsis. The Charity’s grant is funding the roles of staff, such as a research nurse, a clinical trial coordinator, a data manager and a tissue collector. The funding also covers a research fellowship programme.
Biotherapeutics Dr Shaman Jhanji is joint lead of the new Perioperative and Surgical Research Unit
AI imaging The Artificial Intelligence Hub for Imaging will, for the first time, bring together academic and clinical teams into the NHS space to develop AI tools that can be applied to patient treatment and care in the clinic. It will enhance collaboration and accelerate the speed at which we use academic research to benefit patients. Dr Christina Messiou, Co-Director for the AI Imaging Hub and Consultant Radiologist at The Royal Marsden, says: “Until now, academics have worked in universities to design amazing technologies – but often without the input from the NHS teams in hospitals, who understand not only clinical need but also the challenges of deploying new technologies in the NHS. “The hub will mean that we can blend academic and NHS staff so they can work together on technology that will benefit cancer patients. I believe we are building the radiology workforce of tomorrow, and our new hub will resemble what an NHS 10 ADVANCE
“IReC will harness our specialist knowledge to accelerate research and improve outcomes”
radiology team will look like in 10 years’ time.”
Surgical research Royal Marsden consultants Dr Shaman Jhanji and Miss Jennifer Rusby are leading the hospital’s new Perioperative and Surgical Research Unit, which aims to create a cohesive infrastructure to foster research in these areas. The unit will facilitate projects to improve all phases of the patient’s surgical pathway, covering topics
“The hub will mean we can blend academic and NHS staff so they can work together on AI technology”
The Cancer Biotherapeutics Research Unit will support work in cellular therapies, immunotherapies and virotherapies. At The Royal Marsden, Dr Emma Nicholson will lead on the development of cellular therapy for haematological cancers, while Dr Andrew Furness is the lead for solid cancers. Current approaches include tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL), T-cell receptor (TCR) and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, all of which harness the power of T cells, a key immune cell, to eliminate cancer. The additional Charity funding will help expand the team so the unit can develop more clinical studies and associated translational work. Dr Furness says: “Cellular therapy is a novel pillar of immunotherapy and could help expand its reach to more patients, including those with tumour types that fail to respond to existing immunotherapies. “Like other immunotherapy approaches, cell-based therapies have the potential to provide durable cancer control, and possibly even a cure.”
Q&A
recurrent head and neck cancer. The centre is being funded by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, thanks to the generous support of Charles Wilson and Dr Rowena Olegario, and Keith and Isabelle McDermott.
The Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon at The Royal Marsden and Director of the new International Centre for Recurrent Head & Neck Cancer (IReC) explains the centre’s aims
What projects are being funded?
Professor Vinidh Paleri
What is recurrent head and neck cancer? Head and neck cancer is an umbrella term for cancers of the voice box, throat, lips, mouth, nose, and salivary and thyroid glands. The disease is hard to treat and, depending on the type and site of the cancer, between a fifth and half of cases recur.
What is IReC and why has it been launched? The Royal Marsden treats and provides second opinions for
many patients with recurrent head and neck cancer. As a result, we’ve accumulated a great deal of expertise in managing the disease. IReC will harness the specialist knowledge of The Royal Marsden and the ICR to accelerate research and improve outcomes. It will bring together a team of talented clinicians and researchers to create a global centre of excellence and set standards in the treatment, palliation and supportive care of patients with
We’re setting up a national registry to help our understanding of recurrent head and neck cancer and capture variation in how it is treated across the UK, along with a tissue biobank to help us explore and validate key research findings. New research staff, including three PhD research fellows, a trial manager, a clinical trial nurse and a data manager, are also being funded to increase our capacity for early-phase trials of personalised cancer treatments and later-stage trials designed to change clinical practice.
How will the centre benefit patients? It’s important that IReC produces robust, hypothesis-generating data so we can form firm
foundations for multicentre clinical trials that, ultimately, will lead to new treatments and other interventions to improve and extend the lives of patients. We aim to explore areas such as minimally invasive surgery using the hospital’s da Vinci Xi robots, and combining surgery with immunotherapy and other novel agents. We also hope to look at the role of viral therapies and biomarkers in developing new treatments. A key research strand is to identify the clonal changes in recurrent cancer and how they differ from the original disease, and to determine whether we can diagnose the recurrence earlier using blood tests.
What do you hope to achieve in the next few years? IReC will help define standards for the treatment of recurrent head and neck cancer in the NHS and also set global standards for the management of the disease, as we hope to eventually lead an international consortium of centres. CANCERBRC.ORG 11
BENCH TO BEDSIDE
The ICR and The Royal Marsden are renowned for their work in the discovery and development of new cancer drugs, having collectively been involved in nearly a quarter of all drugs licensed for the treatment of cancer in Europe since 2000. Among the most challenging moments in the development of a new drug can be the early-stage clinical trials needed to prove its safety. The NIHR BRC helps to facilitate these early trials and move drugs closer to the point where their effectiveness is proven and they are approved by regulators for use in widespread treatment.
Below: Dr David Taussig. Below right: Professor Louis Chesler
Resistance-busting drugs
Professor Udai Banerji
Drug development in action These three trials of exciting new cancer drugs demonstrate the joint ‘bench to bedside’ approach of The Royal Marsden and the ICR 12 ADVANCE
One recently launched trial at The Royal Marsden is led by Consultant Haematologist Dr David Taussig, an expert in blood cancers with an interest in acute myeloid leukaemia. “It’s incredibly challenging to develop drugs for acute myeloid leukaemia, as the disease is often aggressive and prone to resistance,” Dr Taussig explains. “Survival rates are currently poor for many patients.” But a new drug could provide an urgently needed option. Provisionally called EP0042 and discovered at the ICR – meaning it was designed and first made there – it blocks the activity of two cancer-causing proteins at once. It is now being trialled under a partnership with the drug development company Ellipses Pharma. “EP0042 is an example of the collaborative ‘bench to bedside’ approach of The Royal Marsden and the ICR,” says Dr Taussig.
Professor of Paediatric Cancer Biology at the ICR and a consultant at The Royal Marsden, is leading a trial of the targeted drug fadraciclib – again, discovered by scientists at the ICR – in neuroblastoma. “Our study opens up the potential to treat children with aggressive cancers, such as neuroblastoma, with a class of targeted medicines that may be smarter and kinder than existing options,” says Professor Chesler.
Tackling children’s cancers
Trial success
The power of this collaboration is clear when it comes to clinical trials of new drugs for childhood cancers. Professor Louis Chesler,
These drugs are just two of about 10 discovered at the ICR to enter clinical trials at The Royal Marsden in the past 15 years. But researchers at the ICR and The Royal Marsden also also work with companies to develop their new cancer treatments. Professor Udai Banerji, Deputy Director of Drug Development at the ICR and The Royal Marsden, is leading the trial of one such drug, under development by Verastem Oncology and provisionally called VS-6766. Early results show that it could successfully target cancers in patients with mutations to the key KRAS gene. Although this is one of the most commonly mutated genes in cancer, there are no targeted therapies for the majority of KRAS -driven diseases.
The BRC helps to move drugs closer to the point where their effectiveness is proven
“We are conducting further studies that combine this drug with other novel treatments, and hope we can open the door to new options for patients with this hard-to-treat group of cancers,” says Professor Banerji. Cancer patients urgently need new drugs that work in new ways. The BRC helps to create an environment in which patients are the first in the world to benefit from innovative drugs, thanks to the partnership between The Royal Marsden and the ICR and their combined excellence in collaborating with the pharmaceutical industry. Further reading • jci.org/articles/view/134132 • doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30464-2 CANCERBRC.ORG 13
C A N C E R PAT I E N T S ’ V O I C E
Hearing new voices A new platform allows people affected by cancer to have their say about the NIHR BRC’s research Earlier this year, The Royal Marsden and the ICR launched Cancer Patients’ Voice, the only online platform dedicated solely to involving patients, carers and the public in cancer research, treatment and care. Patient and public involvement (PPI) is vital to help researchers and other professionals understand what matters most to patients and their families and develop projects with better outcomes. It can challenge and shape decisions about our work, and help researchers to ‘design’ research and services that are more appropriate and easier for patients to understand. 14 ADVANCE
Developed with input from patient representatives, Cancer Patients’ Voice is one of the many avenues through which the wider public can get involved in or engage with our work. The platform provides a quick, secure and easy way for people to have their say about improving cancer treatment and care, through features such as surveys and online discussion forums. It can be accessed at any time, via smartphone, tablet or computer – and as there aren’t any geographical limitations, it gives a larger and more diverse range of people the chance to share their views.
“Working in partnership is key to achieving excellent care and world-class research”
PROFILE
As with all our PPI opportunities, users can choose their level of involvement and still contribute to our goal of increasing cure rates and improving survival with smarter, kinder treatments. There is a variety of projects on the platform, ranging from raising awareness of prostate cancer risk in black men to improving communication for Coordinate My Care, an NHS urgent care planning service that is vital to patients. Professor Susanne Cruickshank, The Royal Marsden’s Strategic Lead for Applied Health Research, says: “This is a fantastic initiative, and I look forward to using the platform to engage with patients and the public. Working in partnership is key to achieving excellent care and world-class research.” Further reading • patients-voice.cancerbrc.org
Dr Christina Messiou Consultant Radiologist at The Royal Marsden
“There are enormous benefits to using wholebody MRI scans in patients with myeloma”
Dr Christina Messiou is a Consultant Radiologist at The Royal Marsden and Reader at the ICR. She specialises in imaging of myeloma, melanoma and soft-tissue sarcoma. Dr Messiou was one of the first radiologists in the country to provide a comprehensive whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI service for patients with myeloma. Unlike CT scans, whole-body MRI scans can detect cancer in the bone marrow of myeloma patients before it has caused destruction to the outer bone, meaning a diagnosis can be made much earlier. Dr Messiou’s research in whole-body MRI has been
influential in ensuring that patients have access to this highly sensitive imaging test. Her experience in this area and her international reputation have also helped the development of a worldwide consensus about how the technique should be performed and reported. Additionally, Dr Messiou and her team have supported the training of more than 250 radiologists across the UK in how to report wholebody MRI scans. Dr Messiou is the Principal Investigator for the MALIMAR study, which is funded by the NIHR and conducted in collaboration with Imperial College London. The study is comparing the time it takes to process and report myeloma patients’ whole-body MRI scans in the normal way with a radiologist using a type of artificial intelligence (AI) called machine learning. “There are enormous benefits to using whole-body MRI scans in patients with myeloma, but each scan generates around 1,000 images for each patient, which need to be examined individually by a radiologist,” she says. “This is why we’re turning to AI, to remove some of these more time-consuming tasks. “By developing a system that can flag up sites of possible disease, we can get to work more quickly on diagnosing and treating our patients.” Dr Messiou has recently been appointed as a Co-Director of the AI Hub for Imaging. Funded in the first 18 months by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, this hub will bring academics and clinicians together to develop innovative AI technologies. Find out more on page 8.
CV 2007 Appointed by The Royal Marsden and the ICR as an imaging fellow in the Oak Drug Development Unit 2011 Appointed Consultant Radiologist at The Royal Marsden and Honorary Faculty member at the ICR 2014 Awarded a Roentgen Professorship by the Royal College of Radiologists and becomes a member of its Academic Committee 2018 Becomes a Reader at the ICR and lead of the BRC’s Digital theme 2019 Receives the RCR-NIHR Outstanding Clinical Radiology Researcher Award 2021 Appointed Co-Director of the AI Imaging Hub at The Royal Marsden and the ICR
CANCERBRC.ORG 15
Take the conversation online Involving and engaging patients and the public ensures that both our research and our services function better for the communities we serve. Our new Cancer Patients’ Voice digital platform is a quick, easy and secure way for patients, carers and the public to have their say about improving cancer treatment and care online. It gives a wide range of people the chance to share their views and ideas, contribute to research projects, or join moderated discussions – in their own time and at their own convenience via their computer or smartphone. If you are a patient, carer or member of the public who is interested in this exciting new way to collaborate, we’d love to hear from you.
To find out more, please email Steven Towndrow, our Digital Patient Engagement Coordinator, at steven.towndrow@rmh.nhs.uk or visit patients-voice.cancerbrc.org