Michelle Mitchell: Reflecting on CRUK’s impact for people affected by cancer
Michelle Mitchell shared on Linkedin:
”I’ve spent the last couple of days in Birmingham with Cancer Research UK (CRUK)’s Trustees and Executive Board. We reflected on CRUK‘s impact for people affected by cancer, as well as opportunities for growth and improved effectiveness. It was valuable to hear the thoughts of Cancer Research UK’s Members at yesterday’s Annual General Meeting – thank you to those who attended.
Great to also see Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Birmingham, as well as Pamela Kearns, Mathew Coleman, Gary Middleton and Amos Burke.
A highlight was meeting cancer researchers with an interactive lab demo and a number of informative poster sessions from PhD students at the university. Thank you Joseph Wragg, Bridget Bell and all those involved in putting the sessions on.
Birmingham is home to one of our seven Clinical Trials Units and one of the 19 Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres that we co-fund to develop and test new treatments. Earlier this year, one of the clinical trials we support in the city published practice-changing results.
Researchers on the BEACON-Neuroblastoma trial uncovered a more effective combination of drugs for treating children and young people whose neuroblastoma isn’t responding to standard chemotherapies.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Newcastle University, part of a team that we jointly fund with Children with Cancer UK, also made a key breakthrough.
One that could drastically reduce the amount of time children with medulloblastoma have to wait before they can start treatment – from a number of weeks to a matter of minutes.
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumour in children and this discovery could lead to the use of simple imaging tests to accurately diagnose the different types of tumour without the need for invasive biopsy.
I always find it so rewarding to see Cancer Research UK’s science up close across the UK. It makes me immensely grateful for everyone that is playing their part in reducing the impact of cancer on people’s day-to-day lives.
Together we are beating cancer.”
Michelle Mitchell is the first female chief executive of Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the world’s leading charitable funder of cancer research. In 2021/22 the charity had an income of £668m, spent £443m on cancer research and had approximately 4,000 staff and over 30,000 volunteers.
Before joining Cancer Research UK, Michelle was CEO of the MS Society for five years and a founding member of the Progressive MS Alliance: a global scientific and research joint venture and launched the STOP MS £100m appeal. Prior to that, she was Director General at Age UK, the UK’s largest older people’s charity where she worked for nearly a decade and was at the forefront of national debates on health, care and welfare.
Mitchell was appointed Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to Older People and the Voluntary Sector. She was named by Cranfield University as one of the 100 Women to Watch in 2018.
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