UK Brain Cancer Consultants

Dr Rovel Colaco is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at The Christie NHS trust in Manchester.

Dr Colaco trained in clinical oncology at the Christie before undertaking specialist fellowships in the USA and the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute and Yale University. He was the first UK doctor to train in proton therapy spending 12 months at the Florida Proton Therapy Institute where in addition to treating patients he also published several peer reviewed manuscripts on proton therapy research in international journals. Following this he was the first doctor selected to undertake a year long period of training in stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy at Yale University working with both the Gamma Knife and Cyberknife and gaining expertise in stereotactic treatment of brain, bone and spine metastases. He was appointed as a consultant at the Christie on his return to the UK and has been involved in development of The Christie Proton Therapy centre with a leading role in development of treatment protocols for proton therapy. He is the principal investigator at the Christie for the CORE trial examining the role of stereotactic radiotherapy in metastatic lung, breast and prostate cancer and also leads development of spine and bone stereotactic radiotherapy at the Christie.

Dr Ronald Beaney is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at Guys and St. Thomas' NHS Trust in London.

Dr Beaney did his undergraduate training in Scotland followed by posts abroad and in the UK. His oncology training was at the Hammersmith Hospital in London where his MD thesis was on the role of positron emission topography in oncology.

He has been a Consultant Clinical Oncologist attached to Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College Hospitals in London. His major clinical interests lie in tumours of the brain (gliomas) and pelvis (prostate and gynaecological tumours). His current interests are novel drugs for treating tumours and the use of stereotactic radiation, both gamma knife and cyber knife.

Dr Beaney has been on the Faculty Board of the Royal College of Radiologists and an examiner for the same college. He is a Council member of the British neuro-oncology society and a member of the brain tumour working party of the European Organisation for the treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and he is a member of several UK, European and American Cancer Societies and examiner for the Royal College of Radiologists.

Dr Lucy Brazil is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Brazl has a special interest in neuro-oncology, in particular, the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme and low grade glioma (including oligodendroglioma). She trained in oncology at Royal Marsden Hospital and Guy's and St Thomas’ Hospitals. She was awarded an MD in 2007 for research into breast cancer genetics at the Institue of Cancer Research and Breakthrough Breast Cancer. 

Dr Brazil is an active member of The National Cancer Institute Brain Tumour Clinical Studies Group, as well as The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Brain Tumour Group. She is also Chairman of The Brain Tumour Palliative Care / Quality of Life subgroup.

Dr Brazil was Chief investigator for the CODEL brain tumour study using chemotherapy and radiotherapy for Gliomas,

Chairman of the brain tumour Palliative care QOL sub-group, and Systemic Chemotherapy Neuro-oncology Research lead at Guy’s and St Thomas’.

Dr Frank Saran is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at The Royal Marsden Hospital.

Dr Saran moved to the Marsden in 2001 and is the head of the Neuro-Oncology Unit at The Marsden. Prior to this appointment he worked as a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Velindre Hospital, Cardiff focussing on the management of primary CNS and spinal cord tumours as well as non-conformal radiotherapy for children with malignant tumours.

His academic and clinical focus is the management of patients requiring complex radiotherapy,conformal high-precision radiotherapy aiming to maximise tumour control while minimising the risk of potential long term side effects as well as novel systemic therapy approaches in primary CNS tumours. 

Dr Saran is regularly invited to give lectures on his subjects of expertise both internationally and nationally. He is member of many societies and national working groups including ESTRO, RCR, CCLG, NCRI Paediatric CNS tumour group and SIOP-E Brain Tumour Working Group.

Dr David Propper is a Consultant Medical Oncologist based at Barts and The London NHS Trust.

Dr Propper trained in medical oncology at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Medical Oncology Unit in Oxford and received major trial research experience there. He subsequently spent time at the Lombardi Cancer Centre Georgetown Washington DC, USA.

Dr Propper has interests in translational research, early phase trials and the introduction of new therapeutic agents.

Dr Simon Russell is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Dr Russell trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals London where he was awarded a first class honours degree, distinction and several academic prizes. Following general medical training at Guy’s Hospital he undertook his formal oncology training at Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge and University College Hospital London. He also spent a year with the Institute of Urology at the Middlesex Hospital. During his training he was awarded the Royal College of Radiology Medal for the FRCR examination.

Dr Russell works closely with his surgical colleagues, employing the latest techniques using radiotherapy (including brachytherapy), hormonal therapy, chemotherapy and biological therapy to treat urological cancers (prostate and bladder), breast cancer and skin cancers. With his colleagues at Addenbrooke’s Hospital he has brought state of the art radiotherapy such as Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) and prostate Brachytherapy into clinical practice.

Dr Russell is a Member of the Royal College of Radiologists, British Uro-Oncology Group (Secretary) and the Medical Protection Society.

Professor Robert Leonard is a Professor of Medical Oncology based at Imperial College, London.

Prof Leonard originally trained and qualified at Charing Cross Hospital, where he was awarded the Clinical Gold Medal and six of the final year prizes. He Undertook Post-graduate research Fellowships at Oxford’s Radcliffe Infirmary and Harvard Medical School and later went to to become Professor of Medical Oncology at Swansea Medical School and Director of the South West Wales Cancer Institute. His current roles include Professor of Cancer Studies and Chief of Service for Medical Oncology at Imperial College, London.

Robert is a medical oncologist with a major interest in the management of breast cancer. He is a co-founder and Medical Director for  Maggies’ Cancer Caring Centres UK, and has chaired the professional advisory board. Since 2009 he has been Chair of the Scientific Board for  Breast Cancer Care UK. He set up and Chairs the  International Anglo Celtic Collaborative Oncology Trials Group. He is author/co-author of more than 350 peer reviewed original papers and reviews. He has been a senior advisor to Cancer Research UK and is lead investigator several previous and current UK clinical Trials. He also regularly acts as expert oncology witness for legal cases.

Professor Leonard is multi-lingual speaking English, French and Spanish.

Dr Richard Shaffer is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Shaffer specialises in using chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat brain tumours, prostate and bladder cancer, and skin cancer. He has extensive experience of using highly-technical radiotherapy, including Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) for prostate cancer and brain tumours. He is able to offer IGRT (image-guided radiotherapy) for prostate cancer. He is currently developing a local intracranial stereotactic radiotherapy service.

He has an interest in the treatment of benign disease with radiotherapy, including early Dupuytren's disease of the hand, Ledderhose disease of the foot, and plantar fasciitis with radiotherapy. To this end he helped write the RCR guidelines on this topic, and acts as a medical advisor to the British Dupuytrens Society.

He is currently the chair of the Technical Radiotherapy Group, chairs the Network Brain Tumour Working Group, and is an active member of the St Lukes Radiotherapy Strategy Group. He is a member of the NCRI Brain Tumour Clinical Studies Group. He is also a trustee of the Fountain Centre, a charity which provides information, support, counselling and complementary therapies for cancer patients and their carers and relatives at St Lukes Cancer Centre.

Previous to his role at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Dr Shaffer completed a Clinical Fellowship in Radiation Oncology at the British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada. He gained further skills in specialist registrar posts at Charing Cross Hospital, Royal Free Hospital and University College London Hospital.

Dr Prabir Chakraborti is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at The Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Chakraborti has a special interest in Urology, Lung, GI tumours and breast sarcoma In the Derby and Nottingham area.  He is a member of the Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons, Fellow of Royal College of Radiologists (Oncology) and the Medical Defence Union

Dr Chakraborti has been involved in the management and treatment of cancer patients since 1990. He trained in various prestigious and teaching hospitals in London, including the Royal London Hospital, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and Mt Vernon Hospital. An established oncologist of long duration, the provision of treatment maintaining the highest quality and offering state of the art technology together with an up-to-date knowledge base, remain Mr Chakraborti’s top priorities.  Mr Chakraborti is an active and prolific participant in a number of national and international trials of breast and urology patients.

Dr Andrew Hindley is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at The Cancer Centre at Royal Preston Hospital.

Dr Hindley qualified at Birmingham University Medical School in 1977, having been on a travelling scholarship to Malaysia. His elective was spent in oncology at the University of Heidelberg. After training in General Medicine he worked at the Christie Hospital in Clinical Pharmacology, learning how to use anti-cancer drugs, safely and effectively, and carried out research into hormone therapy of breast cancer. He then underwent training in radiotherapy and first became a Consultant in New Zealand prior to taking up his current consultant appointment at Royal Preston Hospital in 1997. 

His clinical interests are in breast cancer, lung cancer, gynaecological, central nervous system and skin cancer. He is actively involved in research into new treatments and training medical students and junior doctors.

His publications have covered hormone therapy and breast cancer, radiotherapy for gynaecological cancer and head and neck cancer, and chemotherapy for gynaecological cancer. His clinical interests are in breast cancer, lung cancer, gynaecological, central nervous system and skin cancer.

In addition to his clinical role Dr Hindley is the Network Clinical Lead for Research and is committed to improving cancer treatment and supportive care for patients in clinical trials. His particular research interests include chemotherapy for platinum resistant disease in ovarian cancer, overcoming unwanted effects of radiotherapy and development of new treatments for brain tumours.