Karol Sikora MA, MBBChir PhD FRCR FRCP FFPM FRSA

Senior Academic Partner

Email: karol.sikora@transcrip-partners.com

Karol Sikora was Professor and Chair of the Department of Cancer Medicine at Imperial College and remains honorary Consultant Oncologist at Hammersmith Hospital, London. He has recently been appointed Dean of Britain's first independent Medical School at the University of Buckingham. He is a Senior Adviser to the WHO Cancer Programme and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Alongside his academic affiliations and being a Senior Academic Partner at TranScrip, Karol is also the Medical Director of Cancer Partners UK, which is creating the largest UK cancer network as a series of joint ventures with the NHS Trusts and a Scientific Director of Medical Solutions PLC, Britain's leading cancer diagnostic company.

He studied medical science and biochemistry at Cambridge, where he obtained a double first. After clinical training he became a house physician at The Middlesex Hospital and registrar in oncology at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He then became a research student at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge working with Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Sydney Brenner. He obtained his PhD and became a clinical fellow at Stanford University, California before returning to direct the Ludwig Institute in Cambridge. He has been a Clinical Director for Cancer Services at Hammersmith for 12 years and established a major cancer research laboratory there funded by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. He chaired Help Hammer Cancer, an appeal that raised £8m towards the construction of the new Cancer Centre at Hammersmith. He became Deputy Director (Clinical Research) of the ICRF. From 1997 to 1999 he was Chief of the WHO Cancer Programme and from 1999 to 2002, Vice President, Global Clinical Research (Oncology) at Pharmacia Corporation.

He has published over 300 papers and written or edited 20 books including Treatment of Cancer - the standard British postgraduate textbook now in its fifth edition and most recently The Economics of Cancer Care. He is on the editorial board of several journals and is the founding editor of Gene Therapy and Cancer Strategy. He was a member of the UK Health Department's Expert Advisory Group on Cancer (the Calman-Hine Committee), the Committee on Safety of Medicines and remains an adviser to the WHO. He currently directs a cancer drug donation programme in Africa.