Gert Attard - Profile
Dr Gert Attard is playing a major role in developing the promising prostate cancer drug abiraterone, which early clinical trials suggest could treat up to 80 per cent of patients with the most aggressive – and previously drug-resistant - form of the disease.
Dr Attard was recently appointed an Academic Clinical Lecturer at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He therefore dedicates half of his time to research efforts into identifying new ways to treat prostate cancer and the other half to clinical duties at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
After finishing his medical degree in Malta in 1999, Dr Attard began to specialise in internal medicine. But after his grandfather died of colon cancer, he decided to embark on a career in cancer research.
Dr Attard joined The Institute of Cancer Research’s Drug Development Unit in 2004, completing his PhD under the supervision of ICR Professor of Molecular Biology Colin Cooper.
Dr Attard ran the early clinical trials of abiraterone, a novel inhibitor of male hormones for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, under the mentorship of Dr Johann De Bono from the Drug Development Unit. He last year received a Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Santa Monica, California, for this work. Dr Attard has also recently published a study describing a new technique for studying abnormal genes in cancer cells isolated from the blood of prostate cancer patients.
He feels “extremely fortunate and honoured to be involved in cancer research at these truly exciting times, after decades of work by scientists and doctors is now leading to the development of drugs that are truly helping our patients”.
Dr Attard says he decided to continue his post-doctoral research at the ICR because it is “a world-class centre where groundbreaking discoveries are made on a weekly basis”.
“Several discoveries made at the ICR, including abiraterone acetate, are already helping our patients and I am confident that the ICR is going to continue to be a key world player in cancer research,” he says.
In his spare time, Dr Attard windsurfs, sails and snowboards.
