The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:
1. Cambridge is recognized as being internationally excellent in the underpinning laboratory science of cancer: this research excellence has been greatly strengthened by the opening this year of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Research Institute (CRI). Cambridge is also becoming internationally competitive in oncology practice and clinical research, and CRUK, in collaboration with the School of Clinical Medicine and the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, now wishes to build on these strengths by further developing clinical oncology to facilitate the translation of research from the laboratory into clinical trials and practice.
2. CRUK has made a major commitment to cancer research in Cambridge: over the last eight years £70m of capital have been invested in new research buildings, including the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute. Approximately £150m is already committed to support cancer research in Cambridge over the next five years. CRUK already support a Professorship in Medical Oncology, to which Professor T. G. Q. Eisen was appointed from 1 September 2006.
3. CRUK now also wish to set up a major programme of drug discovery in several UK centres, including Cambridge. It was already envisaged that clinical drug development would be a key part of the activity of the academic medical oncology unit, which is crucial to establishing Cambridge as a major oncology clinical research centre and to effective translational links. It is now considered critical to appoint a senior figure with an established clinical scientific reputation in Phase I oncology clinical trials to provide academic leadership of this activity, and to manage the substantial team of research nurses, data managers, and clinical and administrative staff required by the intended Phase I development. This will enable Cambridge to formulate and undertake innovative Phase I drug trials by combining the research and discovery strengths with the experience of early clinical studies, and links with pharmaceutical companies, that a leading figure in the field will have developed.
4. The Council of the School of Clinical Medicine have therefore recommended that a Professorship of Cancer Therapeutics be established and assigned to the Department of Oncology. CRUK have undertaken to provide the funding for the first ten years of the Professorship, thereafter the cost of the post would be met by resources at the disposal of the School of Clinical Medicine. Recognizing the need to appoint a high-calibre lead for early phase clinical trials, the academic and clinical oncology departments have identified funding to support the research. The Department have confirmed that suitable accommodation is available for the new Professor.
5. The General Board are assured that the Professorship can be expected to attract an excellent field of candidates. The Board have agreed that election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that on this first occasion candidature be open without limitation or preference to all candidates whose work falls within the title of the office.
6. The General Board recommend:
That a Professorship of Cancer Therapeutics be established for one tenure in the University from 1 October 2007, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Oncology.
| 11 July 2007 | ALISON RICHARD, Vice-Chancellor | PHILIP FORD | MELVEENA MCKENDRICK |
| JOHN BELL | RICHARD HUNTER | PATRICK SISSONS | |
| TOM BLUNDELL | KATHERINE LINDER | I. H. WHITE | |
| P. COULTHARD | D. W. B. MACDONALD |