Queen’s professor showcases Northern Ireland’s expertise in cancer care at Indian Cancer Congress

Professor Lawler highlighted how a research enabled personalised health agenda can lead to significantly better outcomes for cancer patients

Professor Mark Lawler, Chair in Translational Cancer Genomics in the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology at Queen’s University recently delivered a keynote address at the Indo-UK Summit of the Indian Cancer Congress in Bengaluru. Professor Lawler highlighted how a research enabled personalised health agenda, underpinned by a precision cancer medicine approach that places a significant emphasis on the use of big data for better health, can lead to significantly better outcomes for cancer patients.

In his address entitled ‘Is Precision Medicine the route to a Healthy World,’ Lawler presented his research on the ‘Northern Ireland Comprehensive Cancer Programme Approach which was published in Cancer, the Journal of the American Cancer Society in 2016. This research highlights how a multi-stakeholder partnership involving the healthcare professional, the patient, the researcher and the industry partner, all working together towards a common purpose, can help deliver improved outcomes and better quality of life for cancer patients.

Lawler said, “Although Northern Ireland is nearly 200 times smaller than India and its 1.8 million population is dwarfed by the 1.3 billion people that live in India, it still has a key role to play in the global fight against cancer. This congress offers an excellent opportunity for oncologists around the world to come together, share learning and discuss how to address challenges that we face. Harnessing the value of clinical, epidemiological and genomic information as we recently highlighted in our Call to Action in the New England Journal of Medicine can allow us to drive a data enabled agenda to improve the lives of citizens in both our countries.”

Lawler led the Precision Medicine component of a multi-stakeholder visit to India that aims to enhance trade, increase research collaborations and foster joint educational programmes between the UK and India. The visit was a follow up to the UK-India Trade Summit, which Prime Ministers’ May and Modi jointly opened in Delhi in November 2016.

Commenting on the research and potential collaborations between Queen’s and Indian institutions, Professor Richard English, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalization and Engagement, Queen’s University Belfast said “Queen’s University Belfast is delighted that the work of Lawler and his colleagues is featuring at this prestigious Conference in India. The transformational effects of University research such as this are central to our work at Queen’s, and international debates, discussions and connections represent a vital part of that process.”