MCRC Director’s Update May 2024
A look back on May with Professor Robert Bristow
Hello to everyone at the MCRC! I hope you are all well and that you have been enjoying May and entering into our summer months. I am pleased to be updating you on the plethora of last month’s activities for myself and the MCRC.
You can watch my update on video where I discuss:
- My trip to Australia for the Pan Prostate Cancer Group Meeting (PPCG) followed by a seminar I delivered on ‘Prostate Cancer’ as part of the NSW Big Ideas Oncology Seminar Series
- My lab group’s visit to Cambridge University to look at prostate cancer evolution collaborations
- The annual ESTRO conference, held in Glasgow
- Greater Manchester Cancer Conference
- A look ahead to my trip to Paris for Institut Curie Senior Advisory Board and a meeting for Prostate Cancer UK
In other developments from across the MCRC
Additionally, over the past month there are other activities from across the MCRC that we should acknowledge:
Greater Manchester Cancer Conference Awards
On the evening of the 14th May, many of our researchers received recognition at the second annual Greater Manchester Cancer Awards. Congratulations to all the successful winners with a particular shout out to the following winners:
Team Science – Winner – Manchester’s PMP Accelerator Team led by Prof. Omer Aziz
Early Career Researcher Award – Winner – Dr Alicia-Marie Conway
Educational Impact Award – Winner – Cancer and Us Community Conversations, involving members of the Manchester BRC and National Biomarker Centre.
With the following projects receiving highly commended awards within their respective categories:
Commitment to Equality – Highly Commended – RAPID-RT
Team Science Award – Highly Commended – BRAINatomy
You can read more about all the award winners on the GM Cancer website.
Radiotherapy in Ukraine
This month the MCRC and The Christie were privileged to welcome a group of Doctors from Ukraine who were visiting for an observership in Radiation Oncology and also took the time to deliver a visiting seminar on ‘Radiotherapy in Ukraine since the war began’.
They shared details of the current living and working conditions in their various regions within the country, and the measures and strategies taken to ensure that patients continue to be treated: including the redistribution of patients across country as well as working around power outages, staff relocations and call up to the armed forces, the acute need for more equipment and capacity, and the renewed intensity of workload.
This talk was both fascinating and inspiring and it was our privilege to host these colleagues in Manchester, and we continue to nurture our discussions and links to them now they have returned home.
We were honoured to welcome colleagues from across Ukraine share their experiences and explain healthcare delivery during the war. It was one of the most powerful lectures delivered in quite some time, and attendees were privileged to hear the openness, strength, and dignity of Lesia, Serhii, Liudmyla, and Maryna, sharing the story of healthcare professionals across Ukraine today.
Simon Reeds
Outreach and EDI Manager
Tune in next month for another round up of the month’s activities for the MCRC.
Robert Bristow
Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre
Director of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre
