Head of Unit
Professor Ian E Smith, Medical Oncologist
Consultants
Dr Steve Allen, Consultant Breast Radiologist
Mr W H Allum, Surgeon
Professor Mitch Dowsett, Translational Research
Mr G P H Gui, SurgeonMr P Harris, Surgeon
Mr Stuart James, Reconstructive Surgeon
Dr S R D Johnston, Consultant Medical OncologistMs F MacNeill, SurgeonDr Ash Neruker, Consultant Histopathologist
Dr M O’Brien, Consultant Medical OncologistDr Peter Osin, Consultant HistopathologistDr Marina PartonMs N Roche, SurgeonDr G Ross, Clinical Oncologist
Mr A Searle, Surgeon
Dr J Self
Dr Charles Swanton, Honorary Consultant Medical Oncologist
Dr D M Tait, Clinical OncologistDr Nick Turner, Honorary Consultant Medical Oncologist
Dr Robin Wilson, Consultant Breast Radiologist
Professor J R Yarnold, Clinical Oncologist
Professor Ian E Smith
Professor Ian Smith is Professor of Cancer Medicine at the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research, London. He is also Head of the Breast Unit. He trained in Edinburgh and at Harvard before coming to work at The Royal Marsden where he has spent many years specialising in the medical treatment of breast cancer and, until recently, lung cancer. He sees patients mainly at the hospital's London site but also works at the Surrey site. His main interests are in the development of new treatments for breast cancer, particularly in its early stages, and he has pioneered the use of pre-operative medical treatment before surgery for large breast cancers.
Professor Smith is Chairman of the UK Breast Intergroup, dedicated to running clinical trials of international quality in breast cancer research. He is also recent past Chairman of the British Breast Group, past Chairman of the Association of Cancer Physicians and a member of the NCRI Breast Clinical Trials Group. He is on the steering committees of several major international clinical research trials and has been closely involved in the development of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and Letrozole (Femara) for early breast cancer. He has published over 250 research papers and lectures widely around the world.
Mr Gerald Gui
Mr Gerald Gui is a specialist breast and reconstructive Surgeon. He trained in general surgery, surgical oncology and breast reconstruction surgery in London, UK and Emory University, Atlanta, USA. He is a member of the British Breast Group, Surgical Research Society, and serves on the National Committee of the Association of Breast Surgery, British Association of Surgical Oncology. He is on the steering committee of a number of national training courses and is on the trial management committees of national and international studies in screening moderate and high risk women, pregnancy associated breast cancer and neo-adjuvant endocrine therapy. His speciality and research interests include sentinel node biopsy, risk reduction mastectomy, duct endoscopy, oncoplastic and breast reconstruction surgery.
Dr Stephen Johnston
Stephen Johnston is Consultant Medical Oncologist and Director of Clinical R&D at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Cancer Research, London. He graduated in 1983 from Trinity College at The University of Cambridge, and in 1986 from The Medical School at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He trained in General Medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital in London, and subsequently in Medical Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital. He gained his PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research at the University of London, and took up his current position as Medical Oncologist on the Breast Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital in 1997.
Dr Johnston has a specialist interest in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, and his major research interests lie in understanding mechanisms of endocrine resistance in breast cancer. He is actively involved in facilitating the interface between basic and applied research, and is chief investigator of several phase II / III trials of novel therapeutic approaches in advanced disease, including new endocrine therapies and targeted signal transduction inhibitors. He has published over 150 breast cancer related articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of several national and international committees, and is Deputy Editor of the international journal Breast Cancer Research and a Trustee of the UK charity ‘Breast Cancer Campaign’.
Ms Fiona MacNeill
Miss Fiona MacNeill has been a specialist consultant breast and reconstructive surgeon since 1996. Her main interest is oncoplastic breast surgery – that is achieving the best outcomes in cancer surgery and breast appearance. She and her plastic surgery colleagues collaborate closely to offer a comprehensive and innovative approach to the maintenance of breast shape/image after breast cancer surgery. She has lectured widely in the UK and Europe and was a founder of the first oncoplastic training programme.
She is breast tutor at the Royal College of Surgeons, responsible for developing a national breast education and training portfolio. She has successfully delivered the national sentinel node training programme NEW START. Her achievements in education were recognised in 2006 when she was awarded the Silver Scalpel Trainer of the Year.
Miss MacNeill remains actively engaged in local and national research trials. She acts in an advisory capacity to a variety of Department of Health committees to optimise breast services and plan future cancer strategy. In addition she is a member of a number of professional associations most notably the Association of breast surgery (ABS @BASO) where she is the chairman of the education and training committee.
Miss MacNeill qualified from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London in 1983 and was awarded an MD thesis in 1994 investigating novel breast cancer therapies. Appointed consultant surgeon in 1996 at Colchester she established and led a highly successful breast unit before moving to the Royal Marsden Hospital in 2006.
Dr Mary O'Brien
Dr Mary O’Brien was born in Northern Ireland and studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin. She now works as a medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, Surrey and up until October 2003 also worked at the Kent Oncology Centre in Maidstone.
Dr O’Brien treats breast and lung cancer and is currently Head of the Lung Unit and past chair of the SWL lung cancer tumour working group. She is interested in all aspects of treatment development for breast and lung cancer through clinical trials. She is also interested in the supportive treatment of cancer patients including the use of acupuncture.
Dr Peter Osin
Dr Peter Osin is a consultant Histopathologist / Cytopathologist with special interest and expertise in breast pathology. He qualified from Novosibirsk Hospital Medical School, Russia, with Diploma Cum Laude in 1989. His postgraduate training in histopathology was based at the Institute of Pathology, University of Jerusalem; St George’s Hospital, London; and University College Hospital, London.
Dr Osin is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, and was awarded the Gilbert Fellowship in 1997 and The Breakthrough Cancer Research Fellowship in 1999. Dr Osin has a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of London (2001).
Dr Osin was appointed Consultant Histopathologist at The Royal Marsden in 2001 as a specialist Breast Histopathologist / Cytopathologist. His areas of clinical expertise and research interest are early breast cancer, familial breast cancer and the molecular pathology of breast cancer. Dr Osin has experience in translational aspects of national and international breast cancer trials involving The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer research (HERA trial, IMPACT, ISLAND, etc). He has over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet, Oncogene, Cancer Research, Journal of Pathology, International Journal of Cancer, Cytopathology and British Journal of Cancer, and has made numerous presentations at international scientific meetings.
Dr Marina Parton
Dr Parton qualified from St Bartholomews Hospital in 1993. After completion of her general medical training she joined The Royal Marsden as a junior doctor in 1998, developing a keen interest in oncology and particularly in breast cancer. Subsequently she pursued an interest in early breast cancer and neoadjuvant chemotherapy studies as part of an MD research project in The Institute of Cancer Research.
In 2008 she was appointed Medical Oncology Consultant in the Breast Unit at The Royal Marsden and Lead Cancer Clinician in The Royal Marsden’s first satellite chemotherapy unit, a joint venture with Kingston Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support. She is committed to developing the cancer services at Kingston Hospital with her Kingston counterparts, and establishing oncology clinical trials at the satellite unit with the National Cancer Research Network to enable patients to participate in national trials closer to home.
Ms Nicola Roche
Nicola Roche is a consultant breast surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital. She graduated from Medicine in 1989 from Trinity College, Dublin. Her postgraduate training including a 2 year research period was spent at the Royal Marsden. She was initially appointed consultant breast surgeon at the Royal Free hospital in 2002 but in 2006 moved to the Royal Marsden.
Her interests include sentinel node biopsy, risk assessment and management of women at high risk of breast cancer, 'oncoplastic' approach to breast surgery and the management of young women with breast cancer including pregnancy-related breast cancer. Active research interests include mammographic density in relation to breast cancer risk and sentinel node studies.
Dr Diana Tait
Dr Tait has been Consultant at the Royal Marsden since 1988. She has a specialist interest in upper gastrointestinal, colorectal and breast cancers and a particular interest in GI chemoradiotherapy and the use of modern radiotherapy technologies for optimising treatment. Dr Tait is joint lead with regard to clinical governance matters at the Marsden and she has established a number of committees to audit procedures and improve communication between departments, patients and other hospitals.
Dr Tait is a member of the Royal College of Radiologists and chairs the Clinical Oncology Audit Sub-Committee, which is involved in national audits. She is also a member of the ESTRO Audit Committee which is initiating international audits and the sharing of good practice and innovation.
Dr Tait is actively involved in research. She is principal investigator on a number of studies with the focus around using new radiotherapy technology to improve outcomes where chemoradiation is employed in GI cancers. She is also clinical oncology lead on national and international GI research and collaborates on associated studies in both GI and breast cancer.