Dr. Nathan received his first medical degree from Cambridge University and qualified in medicine at University College London, both achieved after earlier degrees (including a PhD) specialising in immunology. He carried out his post-doctoral research at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in the US. He initially pursued cancer research in academia and in the pharmaceutical industry before finally deciding to pursue a clinical career.He has a specialist interest in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) and melanoma. He is a member of the National Cancer Research Institute groups for both renal carcinoma and melanoma, chairs the rare melanoma subgroup, and is chairing the development of national guidelines for the management of ocular melanoma. He is past secretary of the UK Melanoma Study Group and is a co-author on the UK national melanoma guidelines. He is lead investigator on many clinical trials and has an active research program. His major interests are in the use of targeted therapies to treat advanced renal carcinoma, the development of imaging biomarkers in the management of this disease, and in the development of selective treatments for genetically defined subtypes of melanoma. He has published many papers and contributed to a number of textbooks.
Professor Jones is Director, CRUK Clinical Trials Unit, Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. After undergraduate training at the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, Rob moved to Glasgow to train in internal medicine and then Medical Oncology. He completed PhD in the Frame Lab at the Beatson Institute for Cancer research, where he studied the role of Src kinase in metastatic progression. From 2003 to 2005 he was seconded to the department of Experimental (Discovery) Medicine at Alderley Park (AstraZeneca plc) where he provided translational medicine input to a number of early oncology projects in the invasion and metastasis biological effect area.
Since 2006 he has held the post of Senior Lecturer in Medical Oncology at the University of Glasgow and honorary consultant at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. His clinical practice is the medical management of cancers of the prostate, bladder and kidney. His research commitments include the management of a large portfolio of phase I, II and III trials as well as collaborative translational research with scientists from the Beatson Institute. Since July 2011 he has been the Director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit based at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. This Unit serves two functions: first, the set up and co-ordination of national and international multicentre cancer trials (supported by a CRUK programme grant). Second, the administration and conduct of cancer trials in which the Beatson participates.
He is the chief investigator of four academically sponsored clinical trials: the TOUCAN and PLUTO trials in metastatic urothelial cancer, the SAPROCAN trial in advanced prostate cancer and the ASPEN trial in renal cell carcinoma. He is also a collaborator in a number of other UK national trials in urological cancers, including POUT (urothelial cancer), TO-PARP (prostate), STAR and COSSAK (renal cell).
Currently based at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, Gren brings a wealth of experience of NHS Scotland along with his knowledge of the Scottish kidney cancer landscape to our Board of Trustees.
Starting as an undergraduate in Edinburgh, Gren trained in general surgery in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne before completing an MD the University of London. He returned to Scotland in 2002 where he completed his urological training.
He has an interest in renal cancer and minimally invasive surgical treatments, is a member of the NCRI (National Cancer Research Institute) Renal Cancer Surgical subgroup and is involved with several national and international medical trials. Gren has previously chaired the West of Scotland Managed Clinical Network for Urological Cancers and, with three colleagues, provided tertiary referral services for the West of Scotland.
Professor John Bradley CBE is Consultant Renal Physician and Director of Research and Development at Cambridge University Hospitals, where he is also Director of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. He completed undergraduate medical training at Nottingham University and trained in renal medicine in Cambridge, before completing research fellowships at Harvard, Yale and Cambridge Universities.
He is Regional Specialty Adviser in Renal Medicine, Programme Director for Renal Medicine in the Eastern Deanery, member of the Joint Committee on Renal Disease and the Department of Health’s Renal Advisory Group, Special Adviser to Kidney Research UK and President of the Nephrology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. He leads the NIHR BioResource, and is co-Chair of the NIHR Rare Diseases Translational Research Collaboration, and co-Director of the Cambridge-Yale research collaboration. He is Director of Studies in Medicine at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, and has written five textbooks on pre-clinical and clinical medicine. As a NIHR Senior Investigator he leads a research programme in vascular biology, with a focus on TNF signaling in the microvasculature. He is Editor of the British Journal of Renal Medicine.
Grant Stewart BSc MBChB PhD Edin, MA Cantab, FRCSEd (Urol) is Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Urological Surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Grant has a specific interest in optimising management of patients with initially localised renal cancer, an area of great need within the disease. He is particularly interested in the concepts of early detection and screening for kidney cancer as well as peri-surgical systemic therapy to optimise survival. In order to make practice changing developments Professor Stewart has developed a range of interlinked clinical trials and translational research which are all underpinned by clinical excellence in managing renal cancer at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. To deliver on the above goals, Grant coordinates the Cambridge Renal Cancer Collaboration (CamRenCan) a group of over 40 clinicians, translational researchers and basic scientists across the Cambridge Biomedical Campus with a shared interest in renal cancer research. Professor Stewart is also Programme Lead for Urological Malignancies at CRUK
Miss Maxine Tran has been interested in kidney cancer ever since her first post as a junior doctor in a urology department over two decades ago. She has a special interest in rare inherited kidney cancer syndromes and was awarded a competitive MRC clinical training fellowship for her PhD research at Imperial College London (2003-6). She was then appointed as clinical lecturer in urology at Cambridge University Hospital, and started at the Royal Free Hospital as Academic lead for the Specialist Centre for Kidney Cancer and Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon in 2015. She was promoted to her current position as Professor in Urology in 2022.
Maxine’s research team is dedicated to improving the knowledge of the biology underlying kidney cancer. This will ultimately translate to earlier diagnoses, better management and wider treatment options for patients.
She has been awarded grants from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, CRUK, MRC, Academy of Medical Sciences, Addenbrookes’ Charitable Trust, Kidney Cancer UK, Facing up 2 Kidney cancer, The Royal Free Hospital Charity and St Peter’s Trust.
