Anthony Chalmers is Chair of Clinical Oncology at the University of Glasgow, Director of the CRUK RadNet Centre Glasgow and Co-Director of the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence. His clinical practice at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre is devoted to the treatment of patients with brain tumours, and he runs the Translational Radiation Biology laboratory in the School Cancer Sciences. His main research ambition is to improve outcomes for patients with glioblastoma by combining radiotherapy with drug therapies that target the DNA damage response, but his interests and activities extend across other cancers of unmet need.

He is Chief Investigator for a portfolio of early phase clinical trials evaluating the PARP inhibitor olaparib and the ATM inhibitor AZD1390 in combination with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy in the treatment of glioblastoma, and collaborates with other UK investigators on novel clinical trial platforms including BRAIN-MATRIX and the CONCORDE study in non-small cell lung cancer.

From 2016-19 he was Chair of the UK’s Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Research Working Group (CTRad) and in 2020 he co-founded the CRUK RadNet Radiotherapy-Drug Combinations Working Group. From 2020-24 he was an Executive Board Member of the European Association for Neuro-Oncology (EANO) and a member of the Medical Research Council’s Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board.

He was a co-recipient of the BIAL Award in Biomedicine 2023 and received the European Society of Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) Interdisciplinary Award in May 2024.

Chris is Principal Technical Authority for Radiation Protection and Regulatory Sciences at AWE Nuclear Security Technologies, a non-departmental public body tasked with protecting the UK against nuclear and radiological threats. In this role, he is responsible for the technical leadership, policies and strategies of a team of about 200 radiation protection professionals who provide health physics, dosimetry, instrumentation, radiometrology and environmental monitoring services for civilian and military personnel across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise, Homeland Security, and conventional defence sectors. Chris has been working as an operational radiation protection professional since 2009 and has been an accredited Radiation Protection Adviser since 2014. He is a Fellow of the Society of Radiological Protection, a Chartered Radiation Protection Professional, Chair of the Defence Community of Action on RP Skills and a member of ICRP Task Group 127 which considers exposure situations and categories of exposure.

Dr Navita Somaiah is a Clinician Scientist and Group Leader (Translational Breast Radiobiology) in the Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging at the ICR and an Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist in the Breast Unit at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

After completing her DPhil in radiation biology at the University of Oxford, she became the first recipient of an ICR Clinician Scientist Fellowship award. Her research focuses on biological optimisation of radiotherapy by improving tumour response whilst minimising normal tissue toxicity, for a truly personalised approach. Her team leads innovative, biology-driven clinical trials in patients with high-risk breast cancers, with linked translational research. She is the chief investigator of the international Phase I/II KORTUC trial that is looking at innovative approaches to tackling tumour hypoxia and radiosensitisation. She is the translational lead for two neoadjuvant breast radiotherapy trials at RM/ICR aimed at defining the radiation-induced immune landscape in primary breast cancers for optimal radio-immunotherapy combinations. Alongside this, her team are involved in developing more sensitive imaging technologies and novel biomarkers to monitor response to therapy, pick up early relapse/resistance and predict treatment responsiveness in high-risk breast cancers.