Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers (Oesophagogastric and Hepatopancreaticobiliary/neuroendocrine tumour)

Programme description

The Oesophagogastric (OG) and Hepatopancreaticobiliary/Neuroendocrine (HPB/NET) units at the Christie Hospital serve a population of over 3 million people and are also tertiary referral units for complex cases or second opinions. The OG unit primarily treats patients with adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus, gastro-oesophageal junction or stomach. Many of these patients will be receiving multi-modality, potentially curative treatment involving chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgical intervention, and a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach to patient management is therefore crucial. Many other patients will have incurable disease and will be receiving palliative chemotherapy where the risks and benefits of treatment must be carefully balanced. The OG unit has an active national and international research trials portfolio in both early stage and advanced disease. Dr Was Mansoor, consultant medical oncologist, is the Research Lead and the unit is involved in all stages of clinical trial development (phase I – III trials). At present the portfolio includes a number of trials evaluating novel immunotherapeutics in combinations with and without chemotherapy, in an effort to improve patient outcomes. There are also close collaborations with the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) and University of Manchester.

The disease sites treated in the HPB/NET unit include Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary (composed of hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreas cancer, biliary tract cancers [cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer] and neuroendocrine tumours. The group has a very active clinical research programme (predominantly phase II/III), with close links to basic research laboratories in the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre. There are around 500 new HPB/NET referrals received per year and approximately 25% of all patients are entered in to clinical trials. Manchester is consistently among the top-recruiters to clinical trials in the United Kingdom. In addition, the group has an international reputation in the treatment of patients with NETs (accredited as a Centre of Excellence by the European NET Society (ENETS) in 2011, re-accredited in 2014).

A 6 month clinical fellowship is an exciting opportunity to gain clinical experience in the management of OG and HPB/NETs in a world-leading specialist centre. In addition, the candidate would be encouraged and supported to become actively involved in the research activities of the units and to undertake an audit, service evaluation or quality improvement project during their 6-month post, with the goal of presenting this work in abstract and manuscript form. In order to ensure that the clinical and educational objectives of the post will be met, it is envisaged that the weekly programme would include 2 NHS treatment clinics, 2 research clinics, and attendance at 2 multi-disciplinary team meetings.