Our Scientific Advisory Panel provide invaluable advice and input on scientific and medical matters.
Professor Jillian Birch BSc, MSc, PhD
Professorial Fellow in Cancer Studies, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester
Professor Birch is involved in the development of research programmes on cancer in children, teenagers and young adults at the national and international level.
She is recognised as the national leader in the epidemiology of cancers in teenagers and young adults and has gained international recognition in the field.
She has also become an established world authority in the study of the incidence and patterns of cancer and congenital anomalies in the families of children with cancer and is participating in international collaborations on childhood leukaemias and brain tumours.
She has published widely on all aspects of the epidemiology and aetiology of cancer in children, teenagers and young adults, including a major report for the European Commission.
Professor Birch is a major contributor to the UK Childhood Cancer Study (UKCCS) which was initiated in 1992 and was director of the North West study region; she chaired the European Commission Technical Working Group on Childhood Cancer within the European Environment and Health Consultation Process during 2003 and 2004. She is a member of a number of national and international committees and working groups on cancer in young people.
Professor Patricia Buffler PhD, MPH
Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley
Professor Buffler is the head of the extensive Northern California Childhood Leukaemia Study (NCCLS), a case-control study investigating the causes of childhood leukaemia in northern California. The overall purpose of this study is to find specific genetic or environmental factors that may increase the risk of leukaemia in children.
Professor Buffler has a wealth of experience in cancer epidemiology and the investigation of environmental and occupational exposures and has published extensively in these areas.
Dr Nick Goulden MB, ChB, MRCP, FRCPath, PhD
Consultant in Paediatric Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Dr Goulden undertook a PhD in the research group of the late Professor Tony Oakhill in 1992. Since that time he has played a central role in the introduction of MRD-based stratification of therapy for leukaemia in the UK.
He is a clinical co-ordinator of the current UK ALL trial, ALL 2003, and the chief investigator of the next trial, ALL 2010.
He is a member of the CCLG leukaemia task force and the European Study Group on minimal residual disease (MRD). He is also a peer reviewer for prestigious international journals such as The Lancet, the British Journal of Haematology, and Leukaemia.
Dr Malcolm Taylor PhD, MRCPCH, FRCPath
Reader in
Cancer Immunogenetics, School of Cancer & Enabling Sciences, University of Manchester
Dr Taylor is Head of the Cancer Immunogenetics Group in the School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences (CES) at the University of Manchester. He is based in the new Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
He is a member of the CES Paediatric Oncology Academic Group and the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC).
His group focuses on the role of host immune response genes, notably in the human major histocompatability complex, in the causation, therapy and prevention of childhood leukaemia and childhood Hodgkins disease.
One of the group’s long-term objectives is the development of an anti-leukaemic vaccine as an adjunct to conventional therapy and as a preventative option.
Dr Taylor is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the British Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics and the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (UK). He sits on the UK Childhood Cancer Study research committee, and the Cancer and Leukaemia International Consortium.
He is also an editorial board member of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy and Cancer Epidemiology and undertakes peer reviews for several international journals.
Professor Geoffrey Pilkington BSc PhD CBiol FSB FRCPath
Professor of Cellular & Molecular Neuro-oncology, School of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, and Professor of Cellular & Molecular Neuro-oncology and Honorary Professor, King's College Hospital, London. Professor Pilkington has been involved in brain tumour research since 1971 and has published numerous scientific papers, particularly in the field of neurocarcinogenesis and brain tumour cell invasion into the normal brain.
After 23 years at King's College, London, Professor Pilkington left his post as Professor of Experimental Neuro-oncology to take up a new post at the School of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences of the University of Portsmouth.