Chief Research Advisor

Professor David Kerr, CBE, MA MD DSc FRCP (Glas & Lon) FRCGP (Hon) FMedSci

Rhodes Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Cancer Therapeutics

David Kerr is Chief Research Adviser, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Professor of Cancer Therapeutics and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, and a member of the Supreme Health Council of Qatar. He is committed to building a centre of biomedical research excellence in Qatar and working with academic partners to benefit the Qatari research community and impact on global health. He has worked with colleagues in Oxford to build a new Institute for Cancer Medicine and Cancer Hospital. He has an international reputation for the treatment of and research into colorectal cancer, and is developing new approaches to cancer treatment which involve novel inhibitors of key biochemical pathways.

The quality of his work has been recognised by the award of several international prizes and the first NHS Nye-Bevan award for innovation. He has published more than 350 articles in peer-reviewed journals (including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature Genetics, Nature Reviews of Cancer) and has contributed to many books on cancer.

David Kerr has made a significant contribution to reforming the NHS as a Founding Commissioner for Health Improvement; Chair of the National Cancer Services Collaborative, instigator of the Department of Health's networked approach to clinical cancer research and developed a 20 year plan for the future of the NHS in Scotland, the "Kerr Report". He was Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Oncology, Europe's premier medical oncology journal, and is on the editorial board of several other journals including Nature Clinical Practice Oncology. He has established a series of international collaborations establishing a trials network with India's leading cancer centres INDOX (http://www.indox.org.uk/) and AfrOx (http://www.afrox.org) which aims to improve the delivery of cancer care in Sub Saharan Africa. He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2000, Honorary Fellow of Royal College of General Practitioners in 2007, appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2002 and was recently appointed President-elect of the European Society of Medical Oncology.

Publications

Kerr DJ and Kakil IR. Strapline: Targeted Therapies. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. In Press - 2009.

Edwards AM, Bountra C, Kerr DJ, Willson TM. Open access chemical and clinical probes to support drug discovery. Nat Chem Biol. 2009 Jul;5(7):436-40

Walther A, Johnstone E, Swanton C, Midgley R, Tomlinson I and Kerr DJ. Genetic prognostic and predictive markers in colorectal cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer, 2009, 9: 489-499.

Seymour LW, Ferry DR, Kerr DJ, Rea D, Whitlock M, Poyner R, Boivin C, Hesslewood S, Twelves C, Calver H, Lind M, Robbins A, Burtles S, Duncan R and Cassidy J. Phase II studies of polymer-doxorubicin (PK1, FCE28068) in the treatment of breast, lung and colorectal cancer. International Journal of Oncology. 2009 Jun;34(6):1629-36.

Luis S, Spain S, Tomlinson I, Kerr D; Houlston R, Cazier J. Common variation at the Adiponectin locus is not associated with colorectal cancer risk in the United Kingdom. Human Molecular Genetics - in Press 2009

Midgley RS, Yanagisawa Y, Kerr DJ. Evolution of nonsurgical therapy for colorectal cancer. Nat Clin Pract Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009 Feb;6(2):108-20.

Midgley R, Kerr DJ. Capecitabine: have we got the right dose? Nature Clinical Practice. Vol 6: 1, 17-24. Oct 2008.

Palmer DH, Midgley RS, Mirza N, Torr EE, Ahmed F, Steele JC, Steven N, Kerr DJ, Young LS, Adams DH. 3A Phase II Study of Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Dendritic Cells Pulsed with Tumor Lysate in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Hepatology. 2009 Jan;49(1):124-32.

Popov I, Carrato A, Sobrero A, Vincent M, Kerr D, Labianca R, Raffaele Bianco A, El-Serafi M, Bedenne L, Paillot B, Minik, Evaristo E. Raltitrexed (Tomudex_) versus standard leucovorin-modulated bolus 5-fluorouracil: Results from the randomised phase III Pan-European Trial in Adjuvant Colon Cancer 01 (PETACC-1). 2008. European Journal of Cancer, 44, 2004-2211.

Van Cutsem E, Dicato M, Haustermans K, Arber N, Bosset J-F, Cunningham D, De Gramont A, Diaz-Rubio E, Ducreux M, Goldberg R, Glynne-Jones R, Haller D, Kang YK, Kerr D, Labianca R, Minsky BD, Moore M, Nordlinger B, Rougier R, Scheithauer W, Schmoll HJ, Sobrero A, Tabernero J, Tempero M, Van De Velde C, Zalcberg J. The diagnosis and management of rectal cancer. Expert discussion and recommendations derived from the 9th world congress on gastrointestinal cancer, Barcelona, 2007. Annals of Oncology. 19 (supplement 6): vii1-vi8, 2008

Kerr DJ. Metastatic colorectal cancer: irinotecan plus infusional, bolus or oral fluoropyrimidines as first-line treatment. Nature Clinical Practice Oncology. Vol 5, 250-251.2008

Tomlinson I, Webb E, Carvajal-Carmona L, Broderick P, Howarth K, Pittman A, Spain S , Lubbe S, Walther A, Sullivan K, Jaeger E, Fielding S, Rowan A, Vijayakrishnan J, Domingo E, Chandler I, Kemp Z, Qureshi M, Farrington S, Tenesa A, Prendergast J, Barnetson R, Penegar S, Barclay E, Wood W, Martin L, Gorman M, Thomas H, Peto J, Bishop T, Gray R, Maher E, Lucassen A, Kerr D, Evans E, The CORGI Consortium, Schafmayer C, Buch S, Izke H, Hampe J, Schreiber S, John U, Koessler T, Pharoah P, van Wezel T, Morreau H, Wijnen J, Hopper J, Southey M, Giles G, Severi G, Castellvı´-Bel S, Ruiz-Ponte C, Carracedo A, Castells A, The EPICOLON Consortium, Fo¨rsti A, Hemminki K, Vodicka P, Naccarati A, Lipton L, WC Ho J, Cheng K, Sham P, Luk J, Agu´ ndez J , Ladero J, de la Hoya M, Calde´s T, Niittyma¨ki I, Tuupanene S, Karhu A, Aaltonen L, CazierJB, Campbell H, Dunlop M, & Houlston R. A genome-wide association study identifies novel colorectal cancer susceptibility loci on chromosomes 10p14 and 8q23.3. Nature Genetics. 40, 623-630. 2008.

Jaeger E, Webb E, Howart K, Carvajal-Carmona L, Rowan A, Broderick P, Walther A, Spain S, Pittma A, Kemp Z, Sullivan K, Heinimann K, Lubbe, Domingo E, Barclay E, Martin L, Gorman M, Chandler I, Vijayakrishna J, Wood, Papaemmanuil E, Penegar S, Qureshi M, members of the CORGI consortium, Tenesa A, Cazier JB, Kerr D, Gray R, Peto P, Dunlop M, Thomas HH, Houlston R, Tomlinson I. Common genetic variants at the CRAC1 (HMPS) locus on chromosome 15q13.3 influence colorectal cancer risk. Nature Genetics, 40: 26-28, 2007.

Tomlinson I, Webb E, Carvajal-Carmona L, Broderick P, Kemp Z, Spain S, Penegar S, Chandler I, Gorman M, Wood W, Barclay E, Lubbe S, Martin L, Sellick G, Jaeger E, Hubner R, Wild R, Rowan A, Fielding S, Howarth K, Silver A, Atkin W, Muir K, Logan R, Kerr D, Johnstone E, Sieber O, Gray R, Thomas H, Peto J, Cazier JB, Houlston R. A genome-wide association scan of tag SNPs identifies a susceptibility variant for colorectal cancer at 8q24.21. Nature Genetics 39, 984-988 (01 Aug 07)

Kerr DJ, Dunn JA, Langman MD, Smith JL, Midgley RJ, Stanley A, Stokes JC, Julier P, Iveson C, Duvvuri R, McConkey CC. Rofecoxib and Cardiovascular adverse events in adjuvant treatment of colorectal cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 357:360-9. July 2007

Gray, R, Barnwell J, McConkey C, Williams N and Kerr, DJ. QUASAR: a randomised study of adjuvant chemotherapy versus observation including 3239 colorectal cancer patients QUASAR Collaborative Group. Lancet, 370(9604):2020-9. 2007