Join us to celebrate a special milestone for our new professors and hear about their inspiring career journeys. Doors for this event will open at 16.45, with the lectures to commence at 17.00. A drinks reception will be held immediately after the lecture at 18:00.

Please note that registration will close at midnight the Sunday before the lecture.

Professor Elizabeth Davies 

Tales from a cancer data detective

Abstract

My lecture reflects on the dramatic increase in analyses of English cancer data over recent decades. I began my King’s career after collecting case note data and in-depth patient interviews. After visiting high performing US organisations to learn how they used their data, I attempted to use local cancer registry and NHS datasets to inform clinical and public health practice.  This work was exciting, particularly as many new data linkages had become possible, when questions were informed by clinical and patient experience, and findings were relevant to practice or policy. I will argue that this kind of work requires teams with insight into frontline clinical and personal experience, a range of analytic skills, including qualitative approaches, intuition and sometimes a dose of art or poetry.

Biography

Elizabeth trained at University College and Middlesex School of Medicine before completing her PhD on quality of life in malignant cerebral glioma at Barts. She led Royal College of Physicians’ guidelines and worked at the Maudsley Hospital before undertaking public health training in health authorities, NICE, the Department of Health and then on WHO Palliative Care guidance with Irene Higginson at King’s. Elizabeth returned from a Harkness Fellowship at Harvard University to work at the Thames Cancer Registry at King’s with Henrik Møller, becoming Medical Director and then Director in 2012. NHS re-organisation took her into Public Health England as London Director of Knowledge and Intelligence before she returned fully to King’s in 2018. She now leads the Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Services Research Group within the Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

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Professor Simon Pitchford

Platelets: a misunderstood cell

Abstract

We understand how platelets act as ‘sticking plasters’ to form clots when we bleed- this is the action of haemostasis. Separately, platelets have retained the evolutionary characteristics of inflammatory cells, but this is less well recognised. I will illustrate how my research has demonstrated the importance of platelets and uncovered some of their non-thrombotic functions during respiratory inflammation, to reveal that purinergic receptor signalling pathways distinctly control platelet activation in this context. My collaboration with synthetic chemists has now provided the basis for a research programme to show that platelet activation during inflammation may be safely suppressed whilst preserving essential haemostasis. These research experiences have informed my teaching leadership at King’s, where I encourage students to apply an integrative approach to pharmacology.

Biography

Simon Pitchford gained a BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Bath in 1998. An industrial placement year enthused Simon to pursue a PhD in the respiratory field at King’s College London, where he focused on the role of platelets in allergic inflammation. Simon was then awarded a European Respiratory Society Fellowship to continue this theme at the University of Perugia, Italy; before returning to the UK to conduct further post-doctoral studies at Imperial College. In 2010, Simon returned to King’s as a Lecturer. His research explores the pharmacology of platelet activation in inflammation with a current emphasis on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory infections. Simon leads a final year Pharmacology module, and promotes the importance of in vivo based knowledge during drug discovery and development in undergraduate teaching.