Cancer Supportive Care

Professor Christian Apfel
Adviser

Christian Apfel is Associate Professor and Head of the Perioperative Clinical Research Core at the University of California, San Francisco, USA. Dr Apfel obtained MD and PhD degrees from the University of Giessen, Germany, and has practised as an anaesthesiologist in Europe and the US. Dr Apfel has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications, many of them in the field of post-operative nausea & vomiting (PONV). He is editor of the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia and of Case Reports in Medicine and co-author of international consensus guidelines on the management of PONV from the International Anesthesia Research Society and from the Society of Ambulatory Anesthesia.

Professor Dowen Birkhed
Adviser

Dowen Birkhed has, since 1989, been Professor and Head of the Department of Cariology, Institute of Odontology, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Dr Birkhed obtained DDS and PhD degrees from the University of Lund, Sweden. He has held positions as Associate Professor in the Department of Cariology and the Department of Oral Microbiology at the Dental School in Malmö, Sweden, and has been Visiting Professor at the University of Connecticut, USA. He has written several book chapters and published 256 original papers, mainly with a focus on caries prevention, fluoride and salivary secretion. He received The International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Research in Dental Caries in 2007.

Dr Andrew Davies
Adviser

Andrew Davies has been Consultant in Palliative Medicine at the Royal Marsden Hospital, UK, and is about to take up a similar position at St Luke’s Cancer Centre (Royal Surrey County Hospital), UK. He has a long standing interest in oral problems in patients with cancer, having completed an MSc looking at the role of chewing gum in the management of salivary gland dysfunction and an MD looking at the relationship between oral candidosis and salivary gland dysfunction. He is co-editor of the textbooks Oral Care in Advanced Disease (Oxford University Press, 2005) and Oral Complications of Cancer and its Management (Oxford University Press, 2010) and has published numerous studies and articles on the subject. He is a member of the Oral Care group of the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC).

Professor Pierre Diemunsch
Adviser

Pierre Diemunsch is head of the Anaesthesia Department at the University Hospital of Hautepierre in Strasbourg, France. Until June 2010 he was president of the European Society of Airway Management and is currently head of the Experimental Anaesthesia Unit at IRCAD (Institute for Research on Cancers of the Digestive Tract). Prof Diemunsch has published a number of major post-operative nausea & vomiting (PONV) studies and was lead author of recommendations on the management of PONV from a conference of international experts in France, issued in 2008.

Professor Jörgen Ekström
Adviser

Jörgen Ekström is professor of Pharmacology at the Division of Pharmacology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Prof Ekström obtained MD and PhD degrees from the University of Lund, Sweden. He has held positions as Professor of Oral Biology, Acting Professor/Associate Professor of Physiology and MRC Senior Research Fellow in the field of Autonomic Nervous System Biology,  and is Visiting Professor at the University of Cagliari, Italy. He has served as reviewing editor of The Journal of Physiology. Dr Ekström is co-editor of the books Glandular Mechanisms of Salivary Secretion and Neural Mechanisms of Salivary Gland Secretion (Karger, 1998 and 1999). He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, mainly with a focus on salivary gland physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology, including the pharmacological treatment of salivary gland hypofunction. He received The International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Scientist Award for Salivary Research in 2004.

Professor Ken Fearon
Adviser

Ken Fearon is Professor of Surgical Oncology at Edinburgh University, UK, and Honorary Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. He qualified in Medicine with honours from Glasgow University, UK, and held positions as Cancer Research Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Oncology in Glasgow University and Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Surgery in the University of Edinburgh before taking up his current chair in 1999. He obtained his MD degree on the “Mechanisms and Treatment of Cancer Cachexia” in 1987. Principal research domains include human nutrition and metabolism, the metabolic response to surgery and cancer cachexia. Translational research is focused on the role of the systemic inflammatory response. Clinical research is aimed at development of trial methodology including early biomarkers and novel outcome measures. Prof. Fearon has conducted several of the largest prospective randomised intervention trials in cancer cachexia and has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and 75 chapters and reviews to his name. He was presented with the Hippocrates Award from the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD) in 2009.

Professor Peter Kranke
Adviser

Peter Kranke is Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Professor of Anaesthesia at the Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, University Hospitals of Würzburg, Germany, and the Würzburg Medical School. He holds a Medical degree from the University of Heidelberg and earned an MBA and a PhD from the University of Würzburg. Prof. Kranke is editor of the European Journal of Anaesthesiology, chair of the Evidence-based Practice and Quality Improvement Sub-Committee of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and co-author of international consensus guidelines on the management of post-operative nausea & vomiting (PONV) from the Society of Ambulatory Anesthesia. As well as PONV, his current interests include ambulatory anaesthesia, fast-track recovery, simulation and safety in medicine, patient satisfaction and involvement, evidence-based perioperative medicine and outcomes research in perioperative medicine.

Professor Alex Molassiotis
Adviser

Alex Molassiotis is currently Chair and Professor of Cancer & Supportive Care at the University of Manchester, UK, leading the Academic Cancer Nursing Research Unit, Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester and the Supportive and Palliative Care Research Group, School of Nursing, University of Manchester. He is a member of the Research Committee of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care and co-chair of the anticipatory nausea/vomiting subgroup in the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, being part of its Antiemetic Guidelines working group. He is co-leading the ‘Innovative Approaches to Complex Symptoms’ research strand of the Cancer Experiences Research Collaborative (www.ceco.org.uk), a national research collaborative in supportive and palliative care in the UK. He has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications. He is Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Oncology Nursing. His research focus is complex symptoms and the development of interventions to manage chemotherapy-related symptoms, currently focusing on cancer-related fatigue, chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, and cough/breathlessness in lung cancer.