Our Committees
As part of being a member of the AMRC, we follow good practice guidelines covering the five principles of peer review: accountability, balance, independence, rotation and impartiality.
Our committees play a crucial role in the allocation of Tenovus Cancer Care funds and we are enormously grateful for their support and for giving up their time to help us help people affected by cancer.
Scientific Advisory Committee
Psychosocial Advisory Committee
Community Advisory Network Steering Group
Scientific Advisory Committee
Our Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) is made up of leading researchers covering a mix of cancer types and lab based activity. They volunteer their time to meet a few times a year to recommend and monitor the progress of our lab based PhD Studentships.
Committee Members
Chair: Dr Douglas Winton
Senior Group Leader
Institution: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Doug gained his PhD at The University of Bristol and subsequently undertook post-doctoral research at the Institute of Cancer Research, London. He moved to the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, and then to the Department of Oncology. In 2007, he became group leader of the Stem Cell Biology of the Intestine Laboratory.
Research goals
Renewing tissues and many cancers are maintained by a small number of long-lived stem cells. Most models of stem cell organisation take account of their longevity and assume that they are stable populations carrying unique identifying characteristics.
However, this interpretation now seems too simplistic. For example the cell surface signatures of stem cells may not be as stable over time as previously thought.
Their approach is pragmatic: to identify novel ways of assaying stem cells in situ with respect to the functional end-points that are integral to their biology
Professor Charlotte Bevan
Professor of Cancer Biology
Institution: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London
Charlotte began studying the mechanisms of androgen signalling during her PhD at the University of Cambridge, which was on Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, a disorder of male sexual differentiation. She went on to postdoctoral studies at the then Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Lincoln's Inn Fields laboratories. Here she began her work on prostate cancer, which continued and expanded when she joined Imperial College in 1999. She is Reader in Molecular Oncology and non-clinical head of the Prostate Cancer Research in the Department of Surgery & Cancer. Charlotte is also actively involved in teaching at both undergraduate and graduate level and is a long-serving member of the Postgraduate Education Committee, with responsibility for overseeing and monitoring progress of Departmental PhD and MSc/MRes students.
Dr James N. Arnold
Lecturer in Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Institution: Tumour Immunology Group, King’s College London
Dr James Arnold is a Lecturer at King’s College London and runs the Tumour Immunology Group there. James obtained his DPhil at the University of Oxford in 2006 and then went onto the University of Cambridge where he worked with Professor Douglas Fearon and became interested in field of Tumour Immunology. In 2010 James became a Fellow of the Cancer Research Institute (US) until he acquired a Lectureship at King’s College London in 2012. James’ lab now explore therapeutic targets in the tumour microenvironment to improve the immune response against cancer. His lab has taken a particular interest in tumour associated macrophages and are studying these cells using both in vivo and in vitro models relating to breast cancer, alongside human tissue, to gain further insight into the role of these cells in facilitating tumour progression with a focus on their immune modulating capabilities.
Professor Jonathon Pines
Head of Division of Cancer Biology and Team Leader
Institution: Institute of Cancer Research, London
Jonathon Pines studies mitosis, the process by which cells divide. Jon serendipitously entered the mitosis field through cloning ‘Cyclin’ as a PhD student with Tim Hunt at the University of Cambridge. Later, as a consequence of cloning human cyclins as a post-doc with Tony Hunter at the Salk Institute, Jon began to focus on the spatial organization of mitotic regulators. In his own laboratory at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge he pioneered the use of fluorescent protein tags to analyse the dynamic behaviour and stability of these regulators in living cells. His discoveries revealed that mitotic regulators are targeted to specific substructures at specific times, and that mitosis is exquisitely coordinated by the destruction of key regulators at different times in cell division. Jon’s work has provided insights into how chromosome behaviour in mitosis controls both the time and the rate at which essential mitotic regulators are destroyed, and these discoveries have wider implications for how cancers develop.
Jon is now the Head of Cancer Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016 and is also a Member of EMBO (the European Molecular Biology Organisation) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Professor Ian Tomlinson
Director of the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Institution: Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham
Ian Tomlinson is Director of the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham. He works on inherited cancer susceptibility and cancer evolution, and has a role in Clinical Genetics and Molecular Pathology.
Psychosocial Advisory Committee
Our Psychosocial Advisory Committee (PAC) have a wide range of skills and we welcome their expertise in making independent and impartial funding recommendations of community based PhD applications to us.
Committee Members
Chair: Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams
Professor / Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine
Institution: Health Services Research, University of Liverpool
Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams was born in the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales and qualified from Leicester University Medical School. Following posts in oncology, general medicine, psychiatry and primary care, Mari completed her higher training in palliative medicine at University of Leicester Hospitals and LOROS Hospice. Mari was appointed Consultant and Clinical Director at the LOROS Hospice Leicester in 2000. In 2002 she was appointed as Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and in 2003 was promoted to a personal chair within the Faculty of Medicine in recognition of her research and expertise in palliative and supportive care.
She has published over 140 papers and three edited text books and leads a research programme of pre and post doctoral research staff with a strong emphasis on including patients as partners in the research process from the initial research idea to study and publication.
Her current research portfolio includes screening and interventions for depression; the development of randomised controlled trials in palliative care and models of high quality care for patients with dementia and support for their families.
She has served on the fitness to practise and professional conduct committees of GMC and two terms (2006-2012) on the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the UKHEAC committee. She was appointed by the Welsh assembly Government to Review of Governance in Higher Education in Wales and is a member of the Advisory group under Chairmanship of Sir Adrian Webb into future of Higher Education in N East Wales.
Dr Katriina Whitaker
Reader in Cancer Care
Institution: School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey
Katriina is a Chartered Psychologist and Lead for Cancer Care in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Surrey. Katriina was awarded a prestigious Cancer Research UK postdoctoral research fellowship (2012-2015) to explore cancer symptom appraisal in everyday life. Her ongoing programme of work focuses on early diagnosis and cancer, with a particular interest in healthcare-seeking and health inequalities. Katriina is also a member of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Primary Care Clinical Studies Group, and Expert Panel Member for Cancer Research UK's Early Diagnosis Review Panel.
Professor John Saxton
Professor in Clinical Exercise Physiology
Institution: Department of Sport, exercise and rehabilitation, Northumbria University
John Saxton is a Professor in Clinical Exercise Physiology and Head of the Department of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation at Northumbria University in Newcastle. He is a BASES Accredited Research Physiologist, member of the Physiological Society and has served on Council for the Society for Research in Rehabilitation. His research is focused on the role of exercise and other lifestyle factors in the prevention and management of age-related long-term conditions. He is particularly interested in the role of exercise and lifestyle interventions in primary/secondary cancer prevention and in enhancing quality of life in people living with and beyond cancer.
As principal investigator or co-Investigator, he has conducted a number of randomised controlled trials with breast, prostate and colon cancer patients and his research has been supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR-HTA), Cancer Research UK, American Institute of Cancer Research, UK Prostate Cancer Charity/Movember and Yorkshire Cancer Research. In 2010 he was the lead editor of a book entitled “Exercise and cancer survivorship: impact on health outcomes and quality of life”, published by Springer Scientific, New York and in 2011 was the sole editor of a second book entitled “Exercise and chronic disease: an evidence-based approach”, published by Routledge, UK.
Dr Abigail Fisher
Associate Professor
Institute: Institute of Epidemiology & Health, University College London
Dr Fisher is an Associate Professor in Physical Activity & Health in the UCL Department of Behavioural Science & Health. She is group leader of the UCL Energy Balance and Cancer Research Group. Dr Fisher is a behavioural scientist whose research focuses on developing and empirically testing health behaviour interventions designed to support patients after a cancer diagnosis. She is particularly interested in whether appropriate health behaviour advice and support can be embedded into the cancer care pathway to improve the quality of survival of those living with and beyond cancer.
Professor Julia Downing
Palliative Care Nurse, Educationalist and Researcher
Institute: King’s College London
Professor Downing is an experienced palliative care nurse, educationalist and researcher. She is the Chief Executive of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) and a Professor in Palliative Care at Makerere University, Uganda. She has extensive experience in research, presenting at conferences and writing for publication, and is on the editorial board of ecancer, APM and the International Journal of Palliative Nursing (IJPN). She has been working within palliative care for 27 years, with nineteen of those working internationally in Uganda, Africa, Eastern Europe and globally developing palliative care services for adults and children.
She has a wide range of research interests including palliative care nursing, health systems strengthening, nurse prescribing, leadership, children’s understanding of illness, death and dying, palliative outcome scales for both adults and children, education research. She has experiences in undertaking research cross culturally and collaborating across countries, within low and high income countries. She is the Chair of the UK Palliative Care Research Society (PCRS).
Professor Peter Murchie
Personal Chair (Clinical)
Institute: Division of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen
Peter Murchie trained in medicine at the University of Aberdeen, graduating in 1994. He completed vocational training in general practice in Northeast Scotland before embarking upon a career in academic general practice through a Cancer Research UK Primary Care Oncology Fellowship. He is currently Professor of Primary Care and lead of the Academic Primary Care Research Group, within the Division of Applied Health Sciences University of Aberdeen. He leads a research programme which uses clinical data to pursue two main aims: first to better understand the cancer diagnostic pathway within primary care, and second, to improve community-based cancer survivorship care. He maintains a foothold in daytime and out-of-hours general practice in Northeast Scotland.
Professor Bridget Johnston
Florence Nightingale Foundation Clinical Professor of Nursing
Institute: School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow
Professor Bridget Johnston is a clinical academic and holds the post of Florence Nightingale Foundation Chair in Clinical Nursing in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow. This a joint post between the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in Scotland.
Bridget is a registered nurse and has a clinical, educational and research background in palliative and end of life care. She graduated with her PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2002. Bridget has held academic posts in the Universities of Stirling, Dundee and Nottingham before returning to Glasgow in 2016. Bridget’s research has centred on self-care and advanced cancer, telehealth and palliative care symptom management in palliative care and laterally developing and testing interventions related to dignity and end of life care. Bridget’s current funded research includes: developing and testing a carer intervention for carers of people with life limiting illness in Glasgow; using Playlist for life, music listening intervention in hospice care; and evaluating end of life care in prisons. Bridget has established a patient and public involvement in palliative care research group in Glasgow which has been chosen as a test bed for NIHR patient and public involvement standards. Bridget supports a number of PhD students from across the world doing palliative care studies. Clinically, Bridget is mainly involved in issues related to end of life care and bereavement across the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS area. She is also involved in supporting and building capacity in nurse clinical academics. Bridget is Deputy Chair of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care. Bridget was previously editor in chief International Journal of Palliative Nursing. Bridget is Section editor BMC Nursing and Section Editor (end of life care) Current Opinions in Supportive and Palliative Care. Bridget tweets as @BridgetJohnst and co-hosts a palliative/end of life twitter group @Weeolc.
Our Research Advisory Group consists of people affected by cancer, whether as a patient, survivor, carer, bereaved or through their work life. They are our volunteers involved in every stage of our iGrant process and recommend which projects should receive Tenovus Cancer Care iGrant funding.
- Alison
- Jayne
- John
- Laura
- Lesley
- Lynfa
- Mary
- Rachel
- Rachelle
- Stephen
- Wayne