Thursday 10 May 2012
Two eminent researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust have been elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of their efforts to defeat prostate cancer.
Professor Johann de Bono and Professor Rosalind Eeles are among 46 new Fellows chosen this year for their outstanding contributions to the medical sciences. They join around 1,000 existing Fellows spanning the fields of laboratory science, clinical academic medicine, veterinary science, dentistry, medical and nursing care.
Professor Eeles and her team search for genes that predispose men to prostate cancer, and their collaborations have identified around 50 genetic variants so far. Professor Eeles is also working to integrate this genetic information into patient care, through individual risk-profiling and targeted screening programmes. She is Professor of Oncogenetics at the ICR and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Oncology at The Royal Marsden Hospital.
Professor de Bono specialises in developing new targeted drugs for prostate cancer patients, and has evaluated more than 100 experimental drugs in clinical trials over the past decade. Several of these drugs are now available to patients, including the hormone therapy abiraterone (Zytiga) and the chemotherapeutic cabazitaxel (Jevtana), after Phase III trials led by Professor de Bono showed they could extend life for men with late-stage prostate cancer. He is Head of the Drug Development Unit at the ICR and The Royal Marsden Hospital.
Professor de Bono says: “I am delighted to be awarded this prestigious Fellowship, which acknowledges the work conducted by our team at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital in anticancer clinical drug development and improving the outcome of patients with advanced prostate cancer.”
Professor Eeles says: “This Fellowship is a great honour, which also reflects on the hard work and dedication of my team. Our research is making great progress at identifying men at increased risk of prostate cancer so that they can be offered targeted screening and tailored treatment programmes, and I’m pleased that the Academy has recognised the importance of this type of research.”
Professors de Bono and Eeles will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony in London on June 27 2012. The announcement brings the number of Fellows of the Academy at ICR to 16.
-ENDS-
Media Contact: ICR Science Communications Manager Jane Bunce on 0207 153 5106 or after hours 077217 47900
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) is one of the world’s most influential cancer research institutes.
Scientists and clinicians at the ICR are working every day to make a real impact on cancer patients’ lives. Through its unique partnership with The Royal Marsden Hospital and ‘bench-to-bedside’ approach, the ICR is able to create and deliver results in a way that other institutions cannot. Together the two organisations are rated in the top four cancer centres globally.
The ICR has an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. It provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today it leads the world at isolating cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment.
As a college of the University of London, the ICR provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction. It has charitable status and relies on support from partner organisations, charities and the general public.
The ICR’s mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer. For more information visit www.icr.ac.uk.
The Royal Marsden opened its doors in 1851 as the world’s first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education.
Today, together with its academic partner, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), it is the largest and most comprehensive cancer centre in Europe treating over 44,000 patients every year. It is a centre of excellence with an international reputation for groundbreaking research and pioneering the very latest in cancer treatments and technologies. The Royal Marsden also provides community services in the London boroughs of Sutton and Merton and in June 2010, along with the ICR, the Trust launched a new academic partnership with Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex.
Since 2004, the hospital’s charity, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, has helped raise over £50 million to build theatres, diagnostic centres, and drug development units.
Prince William became President of The Royal Marsden in 2007, following a long royal connection with the hospital.
For more information, visit www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk