Posts by author
Anna Wagstaff
Ending cancer service delays and backlogs: voices from the frontline
Pandemic-related delays and backlogs in cancer diagnosis, screening and treatments can be rapidly addressed if health services invest now in data systems that monitor needs and resources, together with innovative ways to meet that need. This was the key message…
Guiding principles for developing European comprehensive cancer networks proposed
The European Cancer Organisation and Organisation of European Cancer Institutes have put forward key principles to guide the development of a European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres. In a position paper published on September 8th, they set out seven recommendations they…
Michael Peckham – the artist-oncologist who helped shape our world
Not all clinicians choose to look beyond doing their best for their patients to learn about the science behind the disease and play a role in progressing treatments. Fewer still are the successful clinician scientists who choose to look beyond…
Bella Kaufman: a rare combination of humanity and morality
Bella Kaufman had great compassion for all cancer patients – but on one in particular she was a bit tough. “Why am I so extra strict with myself?” she asked. “I have a non-evidence based fear of treatment disruption. I…
Angelo Di Leo leaves a living legacy of quality care and research excellence
Future generations of trials must abandon [the traditional] method of patient selection and define eligibility by tumor biology… The era of breast cancer as a homogenous disease is no more. (Ode to a past Emperor, editorial by Angelo Di Leo and…
Beating cancer is complex – our messaging must be clear
A window of opportunity is opening up across Europe to reverse the ever-rising trend of new cancers and improve outcomes for patients everywhere. It’s been brought about in part by a major shift in favour of Europe taking on a…
Delivering cancer care during the pandemic: lessons from the ‘first wave’
“My partner had to be admitted to hospital with neutropenia earlier on in her treatment cycle, and she and I are constantly discussing what to do: whether we should ask about suspending treatment, how the risk/benefit equation adds up, whether…
Guiding career paths from trainee doctor to oncology leader
“If you want to be an oncologist you have to go through some struggles. First become a medical doctor and then enter a residents’ training in internal medicine and then medical oncology. If you want to do more, you have…
How to make precision drugs that work better
Six lessons from the development of the first targeted anti-cancer therapy Tamoxifen famously started life as a failed contraceptive, developed by ICI (now Astra Zeneca), but with the fatal flaw that it increased ovulation rather than suppressing it. It’s a…