Team

John is the Director of the Wales Cancer Research Centre and an academic clinician. His academic roles in the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences at Cardiff University include Professor of Oncology in the School of Medicine. His clinical work is as Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff.

John’s clinical practice has predominantly been in bladder cancer, germ cell tumours and head/neck cancers, and he has specialist clinical research interests in trials for bladder and head/neck cancers, and in stratified medicine. His laboratory research interests include virus-mediated gene therapy and molecular biomarkers of response to cancer therapy.

Amongst his various other roles are: Lead for the Cardiff Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC); strategic lead for the Velindre Cancer Centre Phase I trials unit; and Deputy Director of the Wales Cancer Bank. He serves on Cancer Research UK’s New Agents Committee and their Clinical Careers Committee and Clinical Research Monitoring Panel.

Duncan Baird is professor of Cancer and Genetics at Cardiff University. He has a long-standing interest in telomere biology with a focus on the mechanistic basis of telomere erosion, instability and fusion, with the goal of understanding how this impacts the evolution of the cancer genome and tumour progression.  He developed single-molecule approaches to determine telomere length and characterise telomere fusion events, including Single Telomere Length Analysis (STELA) and its adaption for high-throughput (HT-STELA). The clinical application of these technologies has led to the development of high-resolution prognostic and predictive markers in several tumour types, including chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, multiple myeloma, myelodysplasia and breast cancer. The technologies also have applications for informing patient selection and product development of cellular therapeutics.

Professor John Staffurth is a Clinical Professor in Oncology in the Division of Cancer and Genetics, Cardiff University and a Consultant Clinical Oncologist specialising in bladder and prostate cancer based at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, Wales.

His main research interests are radiotherapy for bladder and prostate cancer and the management of castrate refractory prostate cancer. He is a member of both the WCRC’s Radiotherapy and Prostate Multi-Disciplinary Research Groups and has strong links with the Medical Engineering Research Group, School of Engineering, Cardiff University.

He is a member of the localised subgroup of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Prostate Clinical Studies Group, a member of the national radiotherapy research group CTRad and of the national Radiotherapy Trials Quality Assurance group. He is leading or is involved in the design and delivery of multiple trials in both prostate cancer and radiotherapy. He sits on research funding committees for Prostate Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK. He sits on the Trial Management Groups and Independent Data Monitoring Committees of several trials in the UK.

He is the lead local investigator for multiple trials in Velindre including trials of novel radiotherapy approaches and novel drugs.

Sunil Dolwani is a Gastroenterologist and Cancer theme lead for the Division of Population Medicine in Cardiff University. He leads inter-disciplinary research into screening, prevention and early diagnosis of colorectal cancer. His research is supported by Cancer Research UK, Tenovus and Health and Care Research Wales. He was CI of the CONCOP study and the group has a programme of research through clinical trials applying new technology to cancer screening and integrating healthcare datasets with longitudinal population cohorts.

Richard Adams is Professor of Cancer Clinical Trials, Director of the CRUK core funded Centre for Trials Research (Cancer Division), Clinical Director of the Wales Cancer Bank and Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Cardiff University and Velindre Cancer Centre. His clinical practice and research is focused on lower gastrointestinal cancers. He is chair of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) radiotherapy and early phase national CTRad research group , Chair of the CRUK Clinical Expert Review Panel and is active in national and international research organisations including IRCI the International Rare Cancer Initiative (for anal cancer), ESMO and ARCAD.

Richard is a Chief investigator.  He leads on radiotherapy quality assurance programmes for UK anal and rectal cancer radiotherapy trials. He oversees collaborative translational research in numerous phase II/ III colorectal cancer trials. He was a founder member of and now chairs the South Wales Cancer Care link with Sierra Leone.

Ayesha joined the Wales Cancer Research Centre in September 2020. Ayesha’s role is responsible for the reporting and finance requirements for both our centre and the Cardiff Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC). Ayesha is also involved in a variety of projects within our centre, including supporting the development of early phase research activity and the development of Cardiff's ECMC renewal bid.

Ayesha has over eight years’ experience working in university administration, most recently supporting clinical and non-clinical research in the Centre for Trials Research at Cardiff University. She has also worked in student support and undergraduate and postgraduate administration at several other Higher Education institutions, including the University of Oxford and the University of Kent.

Louise has worked within the NHS since 2004, previously a member of the Fundraising Team at Velindre Cancer Centre and then moved on to become part of the Clinical Trials Team where she set up and supported the running of a large portfolio of clinical trials. Her role within WCRC is Project Officer, which involves co-ordinating and managing various projects within the clinical work package that concentrates on early phase and randomised controlled trials.

"I really enjoy helping others and clinical research is becoming a vital part of a patient’s cancer journey so to be part of the implementation and promotion of research excellence that benefits patients across Wales and beyond is really rewarding."

Jodie Bond is a communications professional with a background working in research, the arts, the third sector and education. She joined the Wales Cancer Research Centre in 2015 when the organisation was in its infancy and has developed the Centre’s engagement activity, brand and reputation from scratch.

Jodie believes that through tailoring communications and engagement activities, we can help the public develop a greater understanding and appreciation of research and its impact on society. She knows how to catch the public’s interest, promote sell-out events, and influence stakeholders — and it’s not just keeping up to date with the latest developments on social media. It’s how much you value, and how well you connect with, the individuals you’re reaching out to.

Jodie has managed a number of successful communications and marketing campaigns. She has promoted sell-out international tours for the UK’s leading contemporary circus, managed multi-regional PR campaigns for the UK’s second largest charity, and worked as part of a team who won gold at the CIPR Cyrmu awards. Outside of her work for the centre, Jodie is a writer and the author of the Vagabond King trilogy.