I’ve been Professor of Surgery for over 25 years and Consultant Surgeon for over 30 years, with wide clinical experience in Surgical Oncology and over 35 years specialising in breast cancer, both clinical and research. Expertise includes treating patients from prevention through to advanced breast cancer. I’m an acknowledged expert in both therapeutics and diagnostics.
Over a number of years, I’ve worked with pharmaceutical companies as clinical trials investigator, advisory board member, expert advisor on regulatory drug submissions, and patent litigation. Regarding clinical trials, I’ve been Chief Investigator (CI) on a large number of Phase 2 and 3 multi-centre studies (national & international). This has included several pre-surgical randomised trials, assessing pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects of new drugs; this role has been in both company-sponsored and investigator-initiated trials. I’ve also advised biotechnology companies on their new drugs.
Over the course of 35 years, I’ve founded two biotech companies, along with developing, and continuing to lead, a research programme on what is now called ‘liquid biopsies’. I developed EarlyCDT-Lung (also called Nodify CDT Lung), the first blood test for the early detection of (lung) cancer measuring a panel of seven autoantibodies. A randomised controlled trial (ECLS) of over 12,000 smokers and ex-smokers reported that participants randomised to the EarlyCDT-Lung test had a 36% reduction in diagnosis of late-stage lung cancers.
One of my current projects includes leading an audit of breast conserving surgery for Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) diagnosed within the UK NHS Breast Screening Programme.