David Kerr Is Running For The UICC Board of Directors

David Kerr, Professor of cancer medicine at the University of Oxford in England, is running for the UICC Board of Directors.

He is internationally renowned for his research and treatment of colorectal cancer, having published over 400 papers.

He has also established three university spin-off companies: COBRA Therapeutics, Celleron Therapeutics, and Oxford Cancer Biomarkers.

In 2002, he was appointed Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth, and in 2010, he was elected president of the European Society for Medical Oncology.

He became a Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences in 2010.

Collaborating with colleagues, he helped establish two Institutes of Cancer Medicine in Birmingham (1992-2001) and Oxford (2001-present) and received recognition from the UK Government for securing a £100 million investment in cancer research networks.

He chaired the Cancer Services Collaborative from 1999 to 2003, leading a redesign program to improve NHS cancer services, for which he was awarded a CBE in 2002. He also authored the “Kerr Report” in 2006, outlining a 20-year plan to reform Scotland’s NHS.

Dr. Kerr co-chaired the Anglo-French Scientific Committee in 2004, celebrating the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, which focused on cancer research as a joint theme endorsed by Queen Elizabeth and President Chirac. He has edited Annals of Oncology, Europe’s leading cancer journal, and has led the European Society of Medical Oncology, representing 8,000 members.

He established India’s first network of top cancer centers, transforming it into a globally recognized trials network, and has trained many young Indian oncologists while also engaging in initiatives in China and the Middle East.

Dr. Kerr has raised international awareness of the impending cancer epidemic in Africa, which is projected to claim over a million lives annually. He also organized the first African Cancer Reform Convention in London in 2007 and founded AfrOx to support national cancer planning in Africa.

Education

Dr. Kerr was born in Glasgow in 1956 and attended Dunard Street Primary School and Eastwood High Secondary School.

He studied biochemistry and medicine at Glasgow University and later trained as an oncological clinical scientist through specialist and fellowship programs in the Department of Medical Oncology at the University of Glasgow under Professor S. Kaye from 1984 to 1992.

Awards and Honors

• Distinguished Harvard Global Health Catalyst Award (2017)
• Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners (2007)
• European Society for Medical Oncology Award(2006)
• European School of Oncology International Award for outstanding contribution to chemotherapy research (1987)

Interviews with David Kerr

In an interview with Medscape, Dr. Kerr stated, “We’re just not doing it right. The impersonal way that we are treating medical students now doesn’t seem to be working.”

In another interview by The Free Library, he said, “We’re all big agents and we’re all important in our fields but we can come together as equals and drive through our ideas.”

For more posts like this, visit oncodaily.com