After three years leading the UM Programme and 19 years in medicine, Dr Sarah Welsh is moving on to medical and scientific consulting. Sarah started her medical career at the universities of Birmingham and Oxford, and completed her PhD in Biochemistry at the Institute of Cancer Research, London. She also undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Arizona Cancer Center, developing novel inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.
After her clinical training in London at Imperial and University College London Hospitals, Dr Welsh was ranked first in the UK for entry into Medical Oncology training, which she completed at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, whilst also being awarded an Academic Clinical Lectureship at the University of Cambridge. Her research programme focused on exploiting novel pathways for the development of anti-cancer agents - particularly in renal cancer - and was based at Professor John Griffiths' lab at the CRUK Cambridge Institute. In 2015, she undertook a further fellowship at the Melanoma Institute Australia in Sydney to specialise in melanoma and the role of the immune system in response to anti-cancer agents, focusing on immunotherapies.
As a Consultant in Medical Oncology, Dr Welsh has been the medical oncology lead for the UM Programme since 2020. For three years she has contributed her expertise in translational clinical trials and the use of immunotherapies in cancer treatment. Sarah started ARTIST, a translational study designed to identify and characterise novel biomarkers for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of renal cancer. The study has sampled over 400 patients in its first two years, with an aim to recruit 1,000 patients over a decade-long study.
Dr Welsh's contribution to the wellbeing of patients and the development of the Urological Malignancies Programme has been invaluable, she will be missed by colleagues and patients alike and we wish her the best in the next chapter of her career.
This spring, Dr Welsh will take a break to visit Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. She also plans to spend time with family and her horses, Woody and Gina.
Dr Welsh is succeeded by Dr Brent O'Carrigan, who takes up his post as UM Co-Lead on 1st February 2023.