Cancer Research UK appoints Professor Charles Swanton as its chief clinician

Cancer Research UK is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Charles Swanton as its new chief clinician.

Prof Swanton, who will also join the charity’s executive board later this summer, has enjoyed a long association with Cancer Research UK. He now leads a team at the Francis Crick Institute in London, working on an internationally acclaimed clinical study, TRACERx, analysing how lung cancer develops.

Prof Swanton became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2002 and in 2008 went on to establish his own laboratory at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute. He is Professor of Personalised Cancer Medicine at University College London (UCL) and practises as a medical oncologist seeing patients at UCLH where he specialises in the treatment of lung cancers.

He is also one of the founding scientists of Achilles Therapeutics, which is seeking to develop a new immunotherapeutic approach to treating cancer. Last week he was elected as a member of the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), one of many prizes and awards he has now received for his ground-breaking work.

Professor Swanton succeeds Professor Peter Johnson who has been the charity’s chief clinician since 2008. Prof Johnson will continue to work closely with Cancer Research UK, undertaking his own research in immunotherapy at the University of Southampton, and playing a leading role in developing cancer research networks for the Francis Crick Institute.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted that Charles is joining the board as our new chief clinician. His work at the Crick on the TRACERx study involves analysing details of how lung cancers evolve over time, from diagnosis and throughout treatment, potentially up to death. The results are transforming our understanding of lung cancer and how we treat the disease.

“I would also like to pay tribute to Peter Johnson and to thank him for his hard work and immense contribution to Cancer Research UK for the last nine years. I am very pleased that he will remain closely involved with the charity in the future.”