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.

Professor Tim Witney

What if? 

Abstract

What if we were given the freedom to dream big? To create new tools that can look inside the human body and act as a warning beacon for disease.

What if radioactivity was used as this warning beacon? That could not only detect disease, but also selectively treat it?

In my inaugural lecture, we will go on a journey to understand why new radioactive tools are required to improve the lives of patients who live with cancer, some of the approaches our lab has taken over the past decade to develop these tools, and where the future of cancer treatment lies. Along the way, you will hear how I gave up my first love to concentrate on science, and of those who inspired me to ask “What if…?”.

Biography

Tim Witney is a Professor of Molecular Imaging and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London’s School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences. His group develops radioactive drugs to identify and treat therapy-resistant cancer. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Nuclide Therapeutics, President-elect of the European Society for Molecular Imaging, and Editor-in-Chief of npj Imaging.

Tim obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge in 2010, under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Brindle FRS, where he developed dynamic nuclear polarisation methods to image cancer cell death. In 2010, Tim joined Prof. Eric Aboagye’s group at Imperial as a postdoc, developing novel PET radiotracers for cancer imaging, before moving to Stanford University in 2013 to work under Prof. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir. In 2015, he established his group at University College London under a Wellcome Trust & Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellowship before moving to King’s College London in 2018.

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Professor Anna Goodman

Why clinical trials in infectious diseases matter

Abstract

From an application to investigate the impact of a rare disease in a distant island in Melanesia as a student Professor Goodman became excited by the potential impact of infectious diseases research. She will talk about her career journey, highlighting those who have supported and helped her along the way. She will discuss how clinical trials impact clinical practice in infectious diseases with examples from this journey. Please do join her, her talk will be designed to be accessible.

Biography

Anna Goodman joined King’s College London in 2016 as a Honorary Senior Lecturer, following her appointment as a Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Guy’s and St Thomas’. She was promoted to Honorary Reader in 2021 and Professor in 2024. She is a fortunate to have had the support of with excellent colleagues and mentors to deliver high impact research in infection.

Her research has ranged from vaccine innovation to clinical trials in bloodstream infection. Her career journey includes an MRC Clinical Fellowship DPhil on malaria vaccines and an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer developing vaccines for pneumococcal disease. Since joining KCL she has focused on clinical trials research. She was awarded an National Institute of Health and Care Research grant to deliver a large-scale innovative therapeutic trial in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia.