Cancer care - A balance of costs

Dr Ajay Aggarwal is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust, London and Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His main research areas are Health Services Research and Global Health. He has been the recipient of two fellowship awards from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in 2014 and 2020. In his role as the Oncology Coordinator for the UK National Prostate Cancer Audit, he co-led the development and delivery of the first ever national hospital outcome reporting programme for radiotherapy. His research has contributed significantly to national and international policy discussion around the affordability of cancer care and the value of new technologies in cancer medicine which has influenced directly the WHO Cancer Drug Pricing and Benefits Taskforces.

As co-chair of the Health Economics in Radiation Oncology (HERO) group within ESTRO (European Society for Radiation Oncology), he is leading the value-based health care initiative and working with the European Commission to support reimbursement policy for medical devices in cancer care. He has previously worked at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, and has ongoing global health projects in South Africa, Botswana and Zambia aimed at building radiotherapy capacity and cancer research capability.

Dr C S Pramesh is the Director of the Tata Memorial Hospital and the Professor and Head of Thoracic Surgery at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). He is the convener for the National Cancer Grid, a large network of 244 cancer centres in India (https://tmc.gov.in/ncg). The mandate of the National Cancer Grid is to provide uniform standards of cancer care across the country. Pramesh is highly committed to efforts towards reducing inequities in cancer care and making cancer treatment accessible to all geographic regions and strata of society. He is also a visiting professor at the Division of Cancer Studies, King’s College London and the Institute of Cancer Policy, King’s Health Partners, London.

His clinical interests include the management of esophageal and lung cancers. He is the Principal Investigator in several investigator-initiated research studies including randomized trials on cancer screening, surgical techniques, neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment of thoracic cancers. His broader research interests include cancer policy, health equity, value-based care and health services research. He has more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, abstracts and book chapters on various topics including thoracic oncology, clinical research methods, translational research, health equity, and cancer policy.

Professor Pramesh has strong interests in clinical trial designs, surgical trials, comparative effectiveness research, promoting collaborative research and cancer policy. He is a Post-Graduate Diplomate in Clinical Trials from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London. He is keen on promoting training in clinical research methods and conducts several courses on clinical research methodology, biostatistics and scientific writing. He serves on the advisory boards of several national and international research organizations and granting agencies.

Dr Dorothy Chilambe Lombe is a clinical oncologist with a sub-specialisation in brachytherapy. She is a Fellow of the College of Radiation Oncologists Colleges of Medicine South Africa, holds a Master of Medicine degree in Radiation Oncology from Stellenbosch University and a primary medical degree from Rostov State Medical University, Russia.

She has served as Chair of the Cervical Cancer Committee of the National Cancer Technical Working Group in Zambia and is a member of the National Cancer Control Strategic Plan Development Working Group. Internationally is a member of the COVID-19 and Cancer Global Taskforce, WHO essential medicines list working group for cancer, ASCO resource and ASCO International Liaisons Program.

In establishing an independent research career she continues to investigate the application of ultrasound-based imaging in the radiotherapy process for resource-limited environments as well as understanding barriers to quality oncology care.

In her spare time, she writes a weekly features article on cancer for the local Times of Zambia newspaper and volunteers for the Zambian Cancer Society as part of her advocacy work.

Richard Sullivan is Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King’s College London, Director of the King’s Institute of Cancer Policy and co-Director of the Conflict and Health Research Group. Richard’s global cancer research covers cancer systems strengthening, financing, political economy, global radiotherapy, social welfare and cancer care in conflict. He also leads major programs on conflict and health across the Middle East, global health security & intelligence and a wide range of clinical areas, including virtual reality enhanced surgical training. Professor Sullivan trained in surgery (urology) gaining his PhD in Biochemistry from University College London.

Richard was Clinical Director of Cancer Research UK for nearly ten years. He has worked with wide range of international organisations around issues of biosecurity. He is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Cancer Policy, Chair of Trustees for eCancer and a national cancer advisor to a number of governments. Richard is a WHO NCD advisor, a member of the National Cancer Grid of India and currently chair of COVID-19 & Cancer Global Taskforce. See kcl.academia.edu/RichardSullivan for publications.