Oncology Professional Care is proud to be supported by an expert advisory board, representative of all members of the multi-disciplinary team, who support the development of the programme and speaker faculty. We have invited some of the most senior and innovative leaders transforming the patient pathway in oncology today to join this committee, ensuring we can deliver true value to all our attendees and partners.

Our advisory board is already helping us to refine the direction of the event and agenda, as well as sharing insights into how we can build out our community. We hope our advisory board will be the cornerstone of our Oncology community, and that we can work with our members to make sure that we are delivering true value to all our attendees and partners.

Here’s our final round of introductions to the Oncology Professional Care Advisory Board 2024…

Samantha Tordesillas - Programme Manager for Personalised Cancer Care, South East London Cancer Alliance | Personalised Care Clinical Lead, SE London ICB

After working as a cancer speech and language therapist for 25 years, Sam joined South East London Cancer Alliance in 2019 as programme manager for personalised cancer care, championing access to supportive care for people with cancer and their loved ones. She is also the SE London ICB clinical lead for personalised care.

Previously, Sam set up and was clinical lead for the innovative South East London Community Head and Neck Cancer Team, a 6 borough multi professional specialist rehabilitation and support team. The team's achievements were recognised nationally with the Chief Allied Health Professions Officers Award in 2019.

Sam has been a clinical advisor in palliative care for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and was co-founder of the RCSLT palliative care clinical excellence network.

Katharine Malhotra - Personalised Care Clinical Lead, RM Partners

Katharine Malhotra is a specialist oncology physiotherapist with over 25 years’ experience and is the Personalised Care Clinical Lead at RM Partners West London Cancer Alliance. Previously she worked as an Operational Rehabilitation Lead and Lecturer Practitioner at the Royal Marsden (RMH). She is also a Physical Activity Clinical Champion working for OHID promoting physical activity for people living with long-term conditions.

In 2019, Kath completed a Darzi Fellowship developing a Physical Activity Strategy for patients, carers, and staff at RMH.

She is passionate about promoting the role of healthcare professionals in transforming care and wellbeing within oncology and palliative care.

Joseph Williams - Chair, BOPA

 

Joseph is a Specialist Cancer and Homecare Pharmacist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and has previously been a member of the Cancer team at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH) and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) with a specialist interest in colorectal cancer and antimicrobial stewardship. He is also an independent prescriber within the colorectal cancer speciality.

Joseph is also an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in the Division of Pharmacy & Optometry at the University of Manchester (UoM) where he teaches a variety of topics including Cancer for Undergraduates and Postgraduates. His background has vastly been in clinical practice and his patient facing role within the MDT has allowed him to initiate and progress applied health research projects in his area of practice to benefit patient care. He has also been fortunate to have had many opportunities to work with students in Higher Education Institutions around the country and has always been passionate about supporting students and teaching.

Joseph is passionate about promoting excellence in pharmaceutical care of patients with cancer through education, research, and innovation.

Joseph is Chair of BOPA and is also a member of the BOPA Digital, E&T, EDI and Research Sub-committees. He has previously been Secretary and Vice Chair of BOPA.

Shereen Nabhani-Gebara - Vice Chair, BOPA

Shereen is an Associate Professor in Oncology at Kingston University London. She is a board certified oncology pharmacists (BCOP) and is a registered pharmacist with the Washington State Department of Health. She has a doctorate in pharmacy with a post graduate qualifications in general and oncology pharmacy practice. Her research includes technology enabled care, evolving role of pharmacy to support cancer care and lab based stability studies to optimise pharmacy services.

Her scholarly achievements include over 70 peer-reviewed publications and over £1.3 million in research funding from national/international organisations.

Shereen is the co-chair of audit and research sub-committee and a member of the GAP committee.

Matt Lechner - Associate Professor of Surgery, UCL

Matt Lechner, MD, PhD, FRCS, FHEA, Associate Professor at University College London, directs a research programme into sinonasal cancer, early cancer drug development,  precision medicine and smell dysfunction. Matt obtained his PhD from University College London and trained as an ENT Surgeon at University College London Hospitals, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Barts Health in London. Before rejoining UCL, he completed a one-year surgical Instructorship/Fellowship in Rhinology and Advanced Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery under Drs. Peter Hwang, Zara Patel and Jayakar Nayak at Stanford University (Palo Alto, US).

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and was one of the first surgeons at UCL who was awarded a Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy in 2013. He has published more than 120 original articles covering smell, rhinology, cancer biology, tumor virology and experimental cancer medicine.

He is Co-Lead of the Head and Neck Domain of the 100000 Genomes Project and has been awarded the title ‘Hunterian Professor’ by the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2020.

And that concludes our third and final announcement of our esteemed Oncology Professional Care Advisory Board. We are so incredibly thankful to work with such insightful pillars of the oncology community to help build our event this year.

Thank you to all our 2024 advisory board:

• Geoff Bellingan, Medical Director, University College London Hospitals (UCLH)
• Emma Hallam, Consultant Therapeutic Radiographer, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Majid Kazmi, Director of Innovation for Cancer and Surgery and Deputy Medical Director, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
• Sandra Dyer, Primary Care Lead Nurse, Transforming Cancer Services Team for London
• Stephen Allen, Patient Representative, Tackle Prostate Cancer
• Anthony Cunliffe, National Lead GP Adviser, Macmillan Cancer Support
• Naman Julka-Anderson, Research Radiographer,The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust Co-| Allied Health Professional Clinical Advisor, Macmillan Cancer Support | Founder and Co-Host, Rad Chat
• Joanna McNamara, Senior Lecturer Radiotherapy & Oncology, Sheffield Hallam University | Co-Founder and Co-Host, Rad Chat
• Vikash Dodhia, Head of Pharmacy, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
• Wendy Ng, MBA, Deputy Head of Pharmacy & Cancer Lead Pharmacist, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
• Sian Lambert, (Former) Business Services Manager, New Hayesbank Surgery | Mid-Kent PCN
• Chris Cutris, CEO, The Swallows Head & Neck Cancer Charity
• Samantha Tordesillas, Programme Manager for Personalised Cancer Care, South East London Cancer Alliance | Personalised Care Clinical Lead, SE London ICB
• Katharine Malhotra, Personalised Care Clinical Lead, RM Partners
• Joseph Williams, Chair, BOPA
• Shereen Nabhani-Gebara, Vice Chair, BOPA
• Matt Lechner, Associate Professor of Surgery, UCL