Grant is an academic surgeon at the University of Cambridge with a broad and impactful portfolio of translational research and a particular interest in optimising early detection and management of patients with initially localised renal cell cancer. He has been joint Programme lead of the Urological Malignancies Programme since early 2020, following his appointment as Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Cambridge. With over 150 peer reviewed publications and £52 million in research grants and clinical trial income, he is a global leader in renal cell cancer research and coordinates the a group of over 40 clinicians, translational researchers and basic scientists across the Cambridge Biomedical Campus with a shared interest in renal cell cancer research (CamRenCan). Clinically, Grant provides all modes of treatment for kidney cancer, from major open surgery to robotic minimally invasive approaches.

 

Grant has a particular interest in the early detection and screening for kidney cancer, as well as peri-surgical systemic therapy to optimise survival (see the NAXIVA, RAMPART and WIRE clinical trials), and has developed a raft of interconnected clinical trials and translational research underpinned by clinical excellence in renal cancer at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. These include feasibility trials, multi-arm multi-stage designed, CTIMPs, spanning an impressive range of methodologies with a view to identifying and developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to renal cell cancer. Large-scale patient sampling and bio-banking has allowed him to develop multiple translational approaches and workstreams alongside these clinical trials, including work on DNA methylation, circulating tumour DNA, transcriptional regulation and dynamic metabolism assessment of tumour environments. He recently established in the UK the European Active Surveillance of Renal Cell Carcinoma Study to determine the natural history of small renal cancers.

 

Prior to moving to Cambridge University, Grant was Senior Lecturer in Urological Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, where he led the Edinburgh Urological Cancer Group and developed and still co-directs the Scottish Collaboration on Translational Research into Renal Cell Cancer (SCOTRRCC) - a Scotland-wide kidney-cancer bio-repository of 1,200 patients with high-quality clinical-data linkage. He also chairs the Scientific and Education Committee of The Urology Foundation, is a member of the Clinical Expert Review Panel of Cancer Research UK and is Chief Investigator for several renal-cancer clinical trials. Grant is a trustee of The Urology Foundation and Kidney Cancer UK, he is a section Editor of the British Journal of Urology International, member of Association of Academic European Urologists and Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge.  Outside of his busy professional life, he is a keen golfer as well as an impressive athlete, having represented Scotland in cross-country in 1997 and 1998 and in the World Mountain Running Championships on four occasions between 1995 and 2008.