School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Centre for Cancer, Society & Public Health

Controlling cancer through epidemiology, services, systems
and global health research

Our collaborative work extends from cancer prevention and cancer epidemiology, to cancer services and systems research, to global health and policy. Our research concerns the control of risk-factors and the prevention of cancer, the early diagnosis and detection of cancer and pre-cancer, patients’ experiences of treatment and care and inequalities in their prognosis, treatment, and survival. Our findings influence the development of global and national cancer policy, care and education.

Our Centre produces nearly 15% of all King’s cancer research outputs across a wide range of population and global oncology research domains from real world evidence to global cancer services and systems. In the last decade the Centre has brought in over £40 million worth of grant funding.

Our faculty delivers, on average, some 800 hours of teaching and education annually, hosts 19 active PhD students and delivers 6 BSc and MSc courses ranging from Introduction to Epidemiology and Population Sciences through to Masters modules in Global Cancer, Health and Security. In addition, we teach on multiple international courses for example European School of Oncology’s leadership and Outcomes masterclasses, Karolinska (Clinical Cancer Epidemiology), and National Cancer Grid of India’s CREDO course, amongst many others.

Senior members of the Centre also hold major UK national and global leadership positions, for example, Professor Ajay Aggarwal is Clinical Director of English NHS National Cancer Audits (NATCAN), Professor Elizabeth Davies recently advised on a Chief Medical Officer Report, Professor Richard Sullivan leads the World Bank Global Cancer Financing program and Professor Mieke Van Hemelrijck is a Board Member of European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer

We have six Research Groups in our Centre:

Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Services Research; Cancer Services and Systems; Guy’s Cancer Real World Evidence Team; Lived Experiences and Patient Perspectives Group; Translational Oncology and Urology Research; and the Institute of Cancer Policy

global health and cancer

Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Services Research

The Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Services Research Group led by Dr Elizabeth Davies studies inequalities in the early detection, diagnosis, experiences of care and outcomes for people with cancer both in England and internationally. We use literature reviews, epidemiological analyses of cancer data, patient experience surveys and qualitative interviews to inform cancer care and public health policies nationally and internationally. Current studies focus on brain, breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers.

Cancer services and systems group

The Centre pursues mixed methods cancer services and systems studies led by Professor Ajay Aggarwal within a partnership between London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Institute of Cancer Policy at KCL. There are four main areas of work centred in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. Building capacity in health services and clinical epidemiological research. Evaluation of technologies to support more equitable and affordable diagnosis and treatment. Development of quality assurance and improvement programmes. Translation of systems and policy evaluation tools to support national cancer control plans. A key premise for the work is to engage with international policymakers, professional bodies and NGOs through KCL’s Institute of Cancer Policy led by Professor Richard Sullivan to support knowledge translation and policy development.

Guy’s Cancer Real World Evidence (RWE) Team

The Centre has an active RWE program led by Professor Mieke Van Hemelrijck with clinical colleagues at Guy’s & St.Thomas NHS Trust. The RWE team brings together researchers, clinicians, research nurses, trial co-ordinators, database managers and students who are active across this area of translational research.

The RWE research work of the group encompasses a heterogeneous set of activities covering different types of cancer. More information and request forms for access can be found at the link below. Professor Van Hemelrijck leads Guy’s Cancer RWE together with Dr Anne Rigg from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The programme aims to amplify Guy’s Cancer RWE data science capability and allow progress answering challenging cancer research questions.

Lived experiences and patient perspectives group

The growing incidence of cancer that low- and middle-income countries face is raising social, cultural, political, ethical, and economic challenges of global cancer that require research beyond the traditional biomedical-clinical nexus. The Centre pursues social science studies led by Professor Carlo Caduff committed to qualitative research methods that foreground the narratives and perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders (i.e. patients, family members, medical practitioners at all levels and from many systems of medicine). Our aim is to give voice to the lived experiences, motivations and constraints of all who are touched by cancer and involved in cancer care. This approach humanises and adds richness to our understanding of cancer in heterogeneous and complex settings across the world. As part of this work stream, we have also contributed to building social science research capacity in the global south.

Professor Carlo Caduff

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Transforming cancer OUtcomes through Research

The TOUR (Transforming cancer OUtcomes through Research) team led by Professor Mieke Van Hemelrijck aims to turn science into better healthcare by translating oncology research into medical practice. TOUR brings together a team of researchers, clinicians, research nurses, trial co-ordinators, database managers and students who are active across the field of translational research. The translational research work of the group encompasses a heterogeneous set of activities with clinical cancer epidemiology at the core. Their unique multidisciplinary expertise and collaborations provide a methodology for researching prevention, early diagnosis and detection, treatment outcomes, and living with and beyond cancer. Their work demonstrates the role of clinical epidemiology across the entire cancer patient pathway.

Institute of Cancer Policy

The Institute of Cancer Policy is a pan-KCL & NHS partner research collaboration led by Professor Richard Sullivan, Professor Ajay Aggarwal & Dr Julie Torode that studies global cancer care, research, and education to understand how these operate as complex adaptive systems and the development of complex, multi-disciplinary interventions for healthcare systems, models, and pathways of care, particularly for vulnerable populations in low resource, conflict impacted populations. We explore how society, technology, and political systems can deliver better patient outcomes with higher value for countries and regions within the context of equality and affordability in collaboration with colleagues at King’s in Global Health and Social Medicine, the Cicely Saunders Institute for Palliative Care, and the School of Security Studies. The ICP has advised and conducted strategic insight research for national governments, the World Health Organisation, international research and economic bodies as well as humanitarian organisations. We also support a number of international cancer organisations to provide strategic global cancer intelligence in support of their work.