Best Clinical Award

May 5 May | 11:55 - 12:05 | Plenary Hall

Interview with Professor Murray Brunt recipient of Best Clinical Award

  

 

 

 

Professor Murray Brunt – School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

What have been the highlights of your career?

It has been a privilege to work as a clinician in the field of cancer medicine caring for patients at The University Hospitals of the North Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent. A highlight has been to become involved in many clinical trials and as a consequence offer my patients the opportunity to consider entering these trials. The UK series of breast cancer hypofractionation studies over the last 30 years or so, initially masterminded by John Yarnold, have been ground-breaking. These hypofractionation trials have moved from START A & B, to FAST and then FAST-Forward.

What do you think are the next challenges in your field?

The FAST-Forward results at ESTRO will address both 5-fraction radiotherapy to the axilla and the 10-year follow-up of the main trial*. There are still challenges to be addressed which include whether a simultaneous integrated boost and internal mammary chain irradiation can be achieved in 5 fractions. To this end the FAST-Forward Boost will address both of these. It has just launched under the leadership of Anna Kirby with planned international collaboration.

To whom would you like to dedicate your award?

Receiving the Donal Hollywood award is an unexpected great honour which I would like to dedicate to all those involved with the FAST-Forward trial including the patients who trusted us and signed up for the study. Those who made the trial successful include the staff at the ICR-CTSU, the TMG, oversight committees and of course all the staff at the participating centres. The trial could not have happened without the funding support of the NIHR-HTA programme in the UK, we are delighted to have their on-going support.