Biography: (more info)
I am a Professor of Breast and Endocrine Surgery and Head of the School of Surgical and Reproductive Sciences at Newcastle University. I qualified from Newcastle in 1977 with Honours and a Hare-Philipson Scholarship. In the same year I was awarded the Handcock Prize by the RCS of England in the National LRCP MRCS Examination. During my research under the supervision of Ross Taylor, John Farndon, and Ivan Johnston I was awarded the Patey Prize by the Surgical Research Society, the Moynihan Prize by the ASGBI and a Hunterian Professorship by RCS England. My MD was awarded with commendation in 1986. I was appointed Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer in 1988 to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, a vacancy created by the move of John Farndon to the Chair in Bristol. In 1992 I was a James IV Surgical Traveller and was elected as a Member of the James IV Association of Surgeons in 1996. My research interests include chemokines and signalling in breast cancer cells, androgen receptors in breast cancers, oestrogen regulated genes and stem cells in breast tumours. In the past 5 years I have published over 25 papers on numerous aspects of breast and endocrine disease and several book chapters including editing the Third Edition of the Companion to Specialist Surgical Practice on Endocrine Surgery in 2006. Recent grant awards include a Health and Technology Assessment Grant to evaluate voice change after thyroid and parathyroid surgery and in 2006 an MRC Discipline Hopping Award to evaluate microwave holography in imaging the breast. In 1994, I was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and I am currently the elected Regional Speciality Advisor for both the English and Edinburgh Colleges in the Northern Region. In 2000, I joined the Court of Examiners for the Royal College of Surgeons of England and was elected an Associate Member of the General Medical Council. In 2007, I will assume the Presidency of the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons.