Professor Ashcroft is a Molecular Cell Biologist and is Professor of Hypoxia Signalling and Cell Biology at the University of Cambridge. She has long-standing experience in discovering and characterising novel molecular mechanisms of hypoxia (low oxygen) signalling, and investigating their role in cancer and other diseases.

 

Professor Ashcroft is particularly interested in cellular metabolic responses to hypoxia including the cross-talk between mitochondria and the cellular oxygen-sensing machinery involving the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) family of transcription factors. Her group was first to discover the central importance of human CHCHD4 (MIA40) and the mitochondrial disulphide relay system (DRS) in controlling intracellular oxygenation and hypoxia signalling, and to describe CHCHD4’s role in cancer. Her work includes small molecule discovery and evaluation for therapeutic benefit.

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Professor Ashcroft is a member of our steering committee.

Dr  Crispin is an Assistant Professor, and leads a research group focusing on the development of multi-omic data integration models to understand response cancer therapies. She co-leads the Ovarian Programme of the CRUK Cancer Centre and the Mark Foundation Institute for Integrated Cancer Medicine. She is also the Chief Digital Officer of 52 North Health, a biotech start-up developing affordable at-home tests for cancer patients. Dr Crispin worked previously at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and was the Director of the Healthcare Innovation programme of the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University (Madrid, Spain), focusing on policy challenges for the integration of AI and digital health in European healthcare. She holds a PhD in Particle Physics. She is an author in over 400 publications and has received numerous national and international awards for the academic, entrepreneurial, and outreach aspects of her work.

 

Dr Crispin works on our WIRE study and our collaboration with the University of Oxford.

Dr Dev is a clinical urologist by training, and Clinical Lecturer and Group Leader at the University of Cambridge Early Cancer Institute. He was a Royal College of Surgeons Fulbright Scholar at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, developing his research interest in genome instability. During his doctoral research with Steve Jackson (Gurdon Institute), he discovered the Shieldin complex, a critical mediator of DNA double-strand break repair, and characterised its role in PARP inhibitor response in BRCA1-deficient cancers. In 2021, he was awarded the PCF John Black Young Investigator Award. In 2022, Dr Dev and his team were awarded the John Black Charitable Foundation-PCF Challenge Award for a first-in-human project investigating PARP-inhibitor + anti-androgen combination therapy.

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His primary research aims include developing early disease models of prostate cancer, exploring cell-free DNA biomarkers using liquid biopsies, and using functional genomics to identify drivers of tumour growth and drug responsiveness. His work looks to address the question of how can we distinguish biologically indolent from aggressive cancers for the purpose of identifying lethal disease early, and, to highlight earlier opportunities to deliver personalised therapeutics in the clinic.
 

Dr Dev is a member of our steering committee and is the programme's training representative. 

Dr Dev is a clinical urologist by training, and Clinical Lecturer and Group Leader at the University of Cambridge Early Cancer Institute. He was a Royal College of Surgeons Fulbright Scholar at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, developing his research interest in genome instability. During his doctoral research with Steve Jackson (Gurdon Institute), he discovered the Shieldin complex, a critical mediator of DNA double-strand break repair, and characterised its role in PARP inhibitor response in BRCA1-deficient cancers. In 2021, he was awarded the PCF John Black Young Investigator Award. In 2022, Dr Dev and his team were awarded the John Black Charitable Foundation-PCF Challenge Award for a first-in-human project investigating PARP-inhibitor + anti-androgen combination therapy.

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His primary research aims include developing early disease models of prostate cancer, exploring cell-free DNA biomarkers using liquid biopsies, and using functional genomics to identify drivers of tumour growth and drug responsiveness. His work looks to address the question of how can we distinguish biologically indolent from aggressive cancers for the purpose of identifying lethal disease early, and, to highlight earlier opportunities to deliver personalised therapeutics in the clinic.
 

Dr Dev is a member of our steering committee and is the programme's training representative. 

Tim is a Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Cambridge and Vice President of Roche Home Institute. His research focuses primarily on renal cell carcinoma, with a particular interest in the curative treatment of localised disease and the development of novel therapies. With broad experience at senior levels of academia, clinical practice, industry and the charity sector, he is especially interested in bridging the interface between them.

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Tim trained at the Royal Marsden Hospital and took up the Chair of Medical Oncology in 2006, gaining industry experience as Vice President of AstraZenica from 2014. His major research achievements include the first study of a BRAF inhibitor in melanoma, identification of genetic risk factors for lung cancer, and development of VEGFR receptor inhibitors as a new standard of care for patients with renal cell carcinoma. In 2019, Tim was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. 

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Working closely with several patient support charities, Tim has led the Macmillan Cancer Support Advisory Board for ten years and became a trustee in 2006.

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Professor Eisen is a member of our steering committee.

Professor Ferdia Gallagher is an academic radiologist and a CRUK-funded Senior Research Fellow who leads the Clinical Molecular Imaging Group in the Department of Radiology. Professor Gallagher's laboratory develops new functional and molecular imaging methods to detect cancer and early response to therapy, with the aim of translating these techniques into humans. The group is also interested in the application of proton spectroscopy to study tumour metabolism, as well as other multinuclear and multimodality approaches such as sodium MRI and PET/CT. Professor Gallagher's lab are applying these methods to monitor treatment response in a range of settings, including the use of immunotherapy. We are particularly interested in the application of these techniques to renal cell carcinoma and metastatic melanoma. They are also studying novel cell labelling approaches to complement more conventional approaches to monitor immune infiltration into tumours.

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Professor Gallagher has held a number of positions on international committees and scientific advisory boards such as the European Society for Hybrid Molecular and Translational Imaging, the MR of Cancer Study Group of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), and both the Research and Education Committees of the European Society of Radiology. Nationally, he sits on the Academy of Royal Colleges Genomics Champion Group. He received Outstanding Teacher awards from ISMRM in 2012 and 2016, and is a College Lecturer and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College.

Dr James Jones is an Academic Clinical Fellow and Lecturer based at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the MRC Cancer Unit.  With a particular interest in how the body’s response to a tumour influences cancer progression, his research investigates how a tumour’s microenvironment influences treatment efficacy, aiming to inform optimally-tailored treatment choices and improved therapies for the future.

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Dividing his time between the clinic and the lab, Dr Jones investigates the role of neutrophil extracellular traps in cancer progression as part of Dr Jacqui Shields’ laboratory. He is involved in a number of projects related to kidney cancer and was awarded a clinical Lectureship in Medical Oncology in early 2020. Prior to taking up his clinical fellowship, James also studied Crohn’s disease as an Academic Foundation Trainee in Professor Arthur Kaer’s lab.  

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Alongside his Medical Degree, Dr Jones also holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he demonstrated the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in protecting cancerous pancreatic tumours from the immune system. 

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Dr Jones is a member of our steering committee and is PI of our ARTIST study. He also works on our collaboration with the University of Oxford. 

Dr Ines Machado is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge. She is developing artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques for the analysis and interpretation of biomedical data. She is particularly interested in the application of medical imaging and computing technology to improve the diagnosis and stratification of patients with cancer. 

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Dr Machado holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering with focus on AI models for neuro-oncology from MIT and Harvard Medical School. She co-organises the Cambridge AI Club for Biomedicine and the AI in Medicine Seminar Series in the Biomedical Campus.  

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Dr Machado works on our collaboration with the University of Oxford.

Tom is a Cancer Research UK and Royal College of Surgeons Clinician Scientist Fellow Honorary Consultant Urologist.

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Tom began his medical training as a graduate in Oxford, prior to rotating through Junior Doctor roles in the Severn Deanery. His formal training in urology started in the East of England, at Addenbrooke's and the West Suffolk Hospital, finishing with the Kidney Cancer Fellowship at Addenbrooke's Hospital. He now works clinically as an Honorary Consultant, supported as a Clinician Scientist Fellow by Cancer Research UK and the Royal College of Surgeons.

 

Intermixed with his clinical development, he has a wide experience in academic research. This has ranged from formal qualification in Medical Engineering and device development, through to extensive genomic based investigations. focusing on understanding how cancers initiate, progress, and evade treatment.

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His clinical interest centres around the surgical management of patients with renal cancer. He is closely involved in the portfolio of the renal oncological clinical trials that are established in Cambridge, using sequencing technologies to better understand the behaviour of these tumours.

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Dr Mitchell is a member of our steering committee.

Dr Pacey is an Academic Consultant (Physician) in Medical Oncology in the CRUK Cambridge Centre Early Phase Trials Team. His research interests are early phase trials in prostate and bladder cancers.

 

Dr Pacey is the Cambridge CI for the CANCAP window-of-opportunity studies in localised high-risk prostate cancer. He is Cambridge PI for a number of early phase/first-in-human and experimental medicine studies on prostate cancer.

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In 2022, Dr Pacey and his team were awarded the John Black Charitable Foundation-PCF Challenge Award for a first-in-human project investigating PARP-inhibitor + anti-androgen combination therapy.

 

Dr Pacey is a member of our steering committee.

Dr Rossi is a urology registrar in the East of England Deanery, having undertaken an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Urology. She was awarded a Cancer Research UK Fellowship and completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge characterising DNA methylation in patients with renal cancer in 2022. During her PhD she also secured funding from the Evelyn Trust to study circulating tumour DNA in these patients. Prior to this, she completed an MPhil focusing on health economics, funded by The Urology Foundation. This is one of her key interests and her cost-effectiveness analysis of screening for kidney cancer was awarded the RSM urology & BAUS academic research prize. Sabrina has also previously led an international initiative involving clinicians, scientists, and patients to determine research priorities in renal cancer (European Urology Platinum Priority Editorial). This work enables her to focus research efforts on key unmet needs which matter to patients.

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Dr Rossi was awarded a Wolfson Scholarship, allowing her to undertake an intercalated BSc (Honours) in cardiovascular sciences (first class, distinction, Olav Kerr Prize and Cullen Medal for outstanding exam performance). She completed her MBChB and received the Marion Gilchrist Prize and the Trades House Prize, awarded to the female graduate attaining the highest exam scores for five consecutive years. She worked at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals for two years during her academic foundation program, before relocating to Cambridge to start her urology career.

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Dr Rossi is a member of our steering committee.

Dr Usher-Smith is an Assistant Professor in General Practice and NIHR Advanced Fellow. She first joined the Primary Care Unit in 2009 as an Academic Clinical Fellow after graduating from the University of Cambridge in 2007 with a MA MB BChir and a PhD in skeletal muscle physiology. Prior to her appointment as a University Lecturer she was a Clinical Lecturer in General practice and then a Cancer Research UK Prevention Fellow. She continues to work as a General Practitioner in Cambridge.

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Juliet’s main research interest focuses on optimising the implementation of risk-stratified medicine to promote prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease. This includes the development and validation of risk models as well as considering the societal, psychological and behavioural aspects associated with their implementation.

Within this area she has a particular interest in the potential for introducing risk stratification into bowel cancer screening programmes. Previous work has included systematic reviews, external validation of risk models for the development of bowel cancer, and a project funded by Bowel Cancer UK to model the potential impact of introducing risk stratification into the current English bowel screening programme. She is now leading a grant from the Cambridge Cancer Research UK Early Detection centre on the social and ethical implications of risk stratified screening (the EXPRESS study) and holds an NIHR Fellowship focusing on developing a strategy for implementation of risk stratification into bowel cancer screening programmes.

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She also works closely with UM co-lead Professor Grant Stewart on a programme of work relating to screening and surveillance for kidney cancer. This includes a series of projects evaluating potential screening strategies for kidney cancer and the Yorkshire Kidney Screening Trial which is the first trial of its kind to assess the feasibility of incorporating an additional abdominal CT-scan within lung cancer screening programmes.

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Dr Usher-Smith worked on our Yorkshire Kidney Screening Trial. 

Dr Yong got her MBBS and intercalated BSc in Surgical Sciences from University College London in 2014. It was here she gained her first taste for hypothesis-driven science through investigating the role of toll-like receptors in critical limb ischaemia with the Vascular Research Unit, Royal Free Hospital, London. This galvanised her pursuit for integrating research with clinical training, leading her to obtain jobs as a General Surgery Academic Foundation Doctor and later as a Urology Academic Clinical Fellow.

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During this time, in conjunction with UM co-lead Professor Grant Stewart and Dr Christian Frezza, she developed an interest in understanding how kidney cancer manipulates physiological metabolism to evolve and advance in a manner that surpasses current understanding and treatment options available to tackle this important disease process. As a urological trainee, Dr Yong became interested in bringing the bench closer to the bedside, closing in on some of the gaps in translational medicine, through the development of novel surgical models to study kidney cancer metabolism.

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With support from the Fulbright-The Urology Foundation Scholarship award, Dr Yong spent three months in the world-renowned metabolomics lab of the DeBerardinis Group, UT Southwestern Medical Centre, Texas, learning the gold-standard techniques in conducting in vivo isotopic tracer studies in both human and patient-derived xenograft models for the evaluation of dynamic cancer metabolism. This invaluable experience laid the foundations for her Wellcome Trust PhD for Clinicians Training Fellowship, under the joint supervision of Grant Stewart and Christian Frezza. Capitalising on the breadth of patients with kidney cancer at Cambridge University Hospitals, one of the highest volume kidney cancer and oncology services in the UK, in conjunction with the Frezza lab, a world-leading cancer metabolomics lab, her overall aim is to develop the use of isotopic tracers to investigate in vivo dynamic metabolism in this broad cohort of surgical patients with kidney cancer, as well as develop novel synergistic translatable platforms through the concurrent use of human tissues. 

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Dr Yong is completing her PhD under the co-supervision of UM co-lead Professor Grant Stewart. 

Dr Yong is completing her