Head of Unit
Professor Ian E Smith, Medical Oncologist
Consultants
Mr W H Allum, Surgeon
Mr G P H Gui, Surgeon Mr P Harris, Surgeon
Dr S R D Johnston, Consultant Medical OncologistMs F MacNeill, SurgeonDr M O’Brien, Consultant Medical OncologistMr G Querci della Rovere, SurgeonDr A Rostom, Clinical Oncologist
Ms N Roche, SurgeonMr A Searle, Surgeon
Dr D M Tait, Clinical Oncologist Professor J R Yarnold, Clinical Oncologist
Dr G Ross, Clinical Oncologist
Dr J Self
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 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 a past Chairman of the Association of Cancer Physicians and of the UK National Cancer Research Institute Lung Cancer Group. He is on the steering committees of several major international clinical research trials and has recently been closely involved in the development of Herceptin for early breast cancer. He has published over 350 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 recontruction 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.
Mr Guidubaldo Querci della Rovere
Mr Guidubaldo Querci della Rovere graduated in Medicine at Padua University in 1971 and obtained a diploma of specialist in general surgery at the same University in 1976.
Mr Querci della Rovere's main field of activity is the diagnosis and surgical management of breast cancer with particular interest in plastic and reconstructive surgery of the breast. He is author of several articles on oncology, co-editor of a book on early breast cancer and a book on plastic and reconstructive surgery of the breast.
Mr Querci della Rovere is Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, member of the British Breast Group, Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine, member of The British Association of Surgical Oncology, Member of The European Society of Mastology, Fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and Member of The European Surgical Society of Oncology. He is also past President and Founding Member of The Italian Medical Society of Great Britain.
In 2002 he was awarded Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Republica Italiana by the President of the Italian Republic.
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.