Tag: Cancer

Shining a Light on Ovarian Cancer

Christina Fotopoulou

To mark Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Professor Christina Fotopoulou, Chair in Gynaecological Cancer Surgery and Professor of Gynaecological Cancer in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, and consultant gynaecological oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust—reflects on Imperial’s recent breakthroughs in the field. Delving into Imperial’s pioneering efforts to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of this complex disease, Christina also sheds light on some of the unique challenges faced. 


The time has come once again for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the UK. This is our annual opportunity to shine a spotlight on ovarian cancer and increase awareness of a disease that has been a significant challenge for women for centuries (see fig. 1).  

Imperial and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have made significant strides towards improving the diagnosis and management of ovarian cancer for many years, and there is even long-term hope of a cure in the future. Through pioneering systemic and surgical therapeutic strategies and conducting ground-breaking research, the Imperial clinicians and researchers  have established themselves as global leaders in the field of gynaecological cancer.  

For example, James Flanagan recently received half a million pounds from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) for his Early Diagnosis programme and Anke Nijhuis was awarded a £1 million Career Development Fellowship from CRUK to establish her own independent research within the Department of Surgery and Cancer. Additionally, the Parasol foundation has generously awarded over £1 million to support research into drug resistance, tumour heterogeneity, and more personalised, predictive imaging.  

The fight continues for better care, improved quality of life and increased survival rates for patients. 

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Navigating the debate on prostate cancer screening in the UK: Balancing risks, resources, and outcomes

In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, few topics have garnered as much attention and controversy as prostate cancer screening in the UK. With approximately one in six men destined to face this diagnosis in their lifetime, the urgency to address this issue is undeniable. To provide clarity amidst this complexity, Rebecca Wright, Honorary GP Teaching Fellow at the School of Public Health, and Azeem Majeed, Professor of Primary Care and Public Health, and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health, at Imperial College London, delve into the heart of this debate, seeking to balance the critical factors of risks, resources, and outcomes in prostate cancer screening in England. 


Prostate cancer screening in England has become very topical and attracted considerable recent news coverage. Around one in six men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives with incidence increasing with age. Another major risk factor is ethnicity; black men are at highest risk of prostate cancer and Asian men are at lowest risk. Other risk factors include family history, obesity and genetics; for example, those with a fault in their BRCA 2 gene (genes that produce proteins that help repair damaged DNA) have a two times higher risk of developing prostate cancer. (1) 

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Navigating digital health: a guide to data and artificial intelligence in healthcare

Kelly Gleason introduces a guide, Navigating Digital Health, co-produced with 20 local diverse public partners (aged between 18-78, ethnicity: White, Black & Asian, 60% women and 40% men) to help the public navigate data and artificial intelligence and wider resources. Kelly is Imperial CRUK Lead Nurse and leads the Public Involvement for the CRUK Convergence Centre and the NIHR Imperial BRC Surgery and Cancer Theme. The guide and supporting resources are part-funded by the NIHR Imperial BRC.


What the public need to know about the guide:

  1. It’s made for the public by the public (with a large and diverse group of public contributors) and supported by experts in the field.
  2. This is a gentle introduction to data science and AI to allow anyone to begin to learn about this field.
  3. It can be used by patients or family members to understand more about these issues generally or to contribute to public involvement programmes in research.
  4. It can help people make informed decisions about accessing new technologies to support their health.
  5. The guide is supported by various forms of media, including the written word, podcasts and animated videos (see links at the end of this blog). (more…)

From bench to bedside and back again in mesothelioma

On Mesothelioma Awareness Day, Dr Anca Nastase provides an insight into mesothelioma and how research advances offer new hope for improved treatment.


Mesothelioma Awareness Day represents a great opportunity to gain more information about the disease biology, risk factors or symptoms from everyone in the mesothelioma community. Raising awareness is essential as it has the potential to improve prevention and early diagnosis and can translate into better outcomes and better survival for the patients.

My aim as a scientist within the National Centre for Mesothelioma Research (NCMR) is to deepen the molecular research in mesothelioma and to advance our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the onset and progression of this disease.

Although progress has been made in the field, further understanding of the pathophysiology is still desperately needed.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that arises and develops in the thin layer that covers the human internal organs, called mesothelium.

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Why good cancer research must have the patient at the centre

Kelly Gleason, CRUK Lead Nurse, explores the value of patient and public involvement in cancer research and how it can improve the quality and outcomes of research.


Patient and public involvement (PPI) is increasingly recognised as important. Funding bodies are asking for more and more from researchers in regard to patient and public involvement. They want to see evidence of authentic and ongoing relationships between researchers and the public that is informing what is being researched, how it is being researched and how findings are shared with the public. Funders want to see more co-creation between researchers and the public and for this to happen, researchers require help accessing larger patient networks and support in maintaining relationships with patients.

My journey with PPI at Imperial

I became involved in patient and public involvement almost a decade ago – it was a relatively novel concept back then. The need for cancer researchers to access patients to involve in their research was increasing. The Imperial Cancer Research UK Centre, where I work as a Lead Nurse, established a group of patients and members of the public for Imperial researchers to have easy access to the patient voice. The group served as a resource to researchers and inputted on everything from grant proposals to lay summaries. They helped us create a research culture at Imperial where patients were integral to what and how we carried out cancer research. (more…)

Radiation and human health – separating scientific facts from urban myths

Professor Gerry Thomas
This festive period Three Wise Women from the Faculty of Medicine will be giving us the gift of wisdom.

Our first is Professor Gerry Thomas, a leading authority on the health impacts of radiation, who tells us why we should focus on the facts.


I was born in the 1960s and grew up believing that the word ‘radiation’ meant something that was infinitely dangerous. Back then, we were led to believe that nuclear weapons would lead to the extinction of our species, and that to be bitten by a radioactive spider would confer supernatural powers! I was therefore sceptical about the use of nuclear power. It wasn’t until 1992, when I started to study the health effects of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in 1986, that I began to question whether my understanding of the health effects of radiation came more from science fiction than scientific fact. (more…)

Why curing breast cancer isn’t a piece of cake

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Luca Magnani unravels the complexity of cancer research, from recent advances in genomics to the power of patients in research. 


In today’s fast-paced world in which everything quickly rotates, spins loudly for your clicks and sights, deciding where to focus our attention is a decisive factor. When trends come and go at lightning pace, it is somewhat surprising that October is still Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I’m glad we can still manage to stop and reflect on what this means. Last year we discussed how Breast Cancer Awareness Month has evolved in the era of social media and marketing. This year I thought we could be more optimistic and discuss when October becomes ‘tea and crumpet’ appreciation month. (more…)

The Asbestos Story: a tale of public health and politics

The Asbestos Story: a tale of public health and politicsAn eye-opening account by Professor Sir Tony Newman Taylor on how asbestos has gone from ‘magic mineral’ to deadly dust that can cause mesothelioma.


Public awareness of the hazards of asbestos can be dated to the period immediately following the death of Nellie Kershaw aged 33 in 1924.  She had worked during the previous seven years in a textile factory spinning asbestos fibre into yarn. She died of severe fibrosis of the lungs. The pathologist, William Cooke, who found retained asbestos fibres in the lungs, called the cause of death asbestosis.  Nellie Kershaw was not the first case to be reported of lung fibrosis caused by asbestos. Montague Murray in 1899 had reported the case of a 33-year-old man who had worked for 14 years in an asbestos textile factory. He had died of fibrosis of the lungs which Montague Murray, also finding asbestos in the lungs, had attributed to inhaled asbestos fibres.  The patient had told Murray he was the only survivor from ten others who had worked in his workshop. (more…)

How machine learning will transform the way we look at medical images

Machine learning

Dr Tim Hoogenboom, a Research Sonographer, looks at the promise and perils of machine learning in medical imaging.

Medical imaging is key in today’s delivery of modern healthcare, with an immense 41 million imaging tests taking place in England in every year. Thousands upon thousands of patients safely undergo imaging procedures such as X-ray, ultrasound, and MRI every day, and the product of these tests – the images – play an essential role in informing the decisions of medical professionals and patients in nearly every area of disease. (more…)

World AIDS Day: Professor Mark Bower on HIV-related cancers

World AIDS Day

To mark World AIDS Day 2017, we have published a series of blog posts to highlight the important and varied research that takes places at Imperial. Three experts from Faculty of Medicine share their interest in HIV/AIDS which spans from the elusive vaccine to the economics of the epidemic.

World AIDS Day takes place annually on 1 December as an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and to show support for people living with HIV/AIDS.


Oncologist turned HIV expert

As a medical oncologist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, I specialise in the treatment of HIV-related cancers at the National Centre for HIV Malignancy – Europe’s largest research and treatment institute for these cancers. Over the last 25 years, I have seen an astonishing improvement in the outcomes of people diagnosed with both HIV and cancer, so that patients under my care with most HIV associated cancers now have the same overall survival as HIV negative patients. (more…)