Leadership
Scientific and clinical direction.
Currently the Edinburgh Cancer Research activities are led by Professors Charlie Gourley, Neil Carragher, Elizabeth Patton and Steven Pollard.
Professor Charlie Gourley, Translational Lead Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre
Charlie Gourley graduated in Genetics and Medicine from Glasgow University in 1991 and 1994 respectively. From 1998 to 2005 he trained in Medical Oncology at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, during which time he was awarded a PhD in ovarian cancer genetics (Edinburgh University) and an NHS Education for Scotland Clinician Scientist Award (2004). Charlie was appointed Senior Lecturer in Medical Oncology at the University of Edinburgh in 2005, Reader in Medical Oncology in 2011 and Professor of Medical Oncology (Personal Chair) in 2012. He received a Scottish Senior Clinical Fellowship Award in 2010. He became Director of the Nicola Murray Centre for Ovarian Cancer in 2016 and Clinical Director of the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre in 2019. In 2022, following successful joint bid by CRUK Edinburgh Centre and CRUK Glasgow Centre, he became a Translational Lead of the newly formed Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre. He is the current chair of the Gynaecological Cancer Intergroup (GCIG) Translational Committee and is a member of the Scottish Medicines Consortium and the German Cancer Aid Scientific Review Committee. He previously sat on the Scientific Evaluation Committee, Institut National du Cancer in France, the Cancer Research UK Experimental Medicine Expert Review Panel as well as the Commission on Human Medicines Oncology and Haematology Expert Advisory Group.
Professor Gourley is active in ovarian cancer clinical trials. He was UK lead for the SOLO1 trial which led to the first line licence for olaparib in BRCA mutant ovarian cancer and for the recently reported GOG281/LOGS trial of trametinib which is the first ever positive randomised controlled trial in low grade serous ovarian cancer. He sits on the trial management group of a number of UK ovarian cancer trials including ICON9, CENTURION and PEACOCC. He provides leadership on the translational aspects of these studies as well as commercial studies such as PISARRO and PRO-105.
Professor Gourley’s translational research focuses on genomic characterisation of ovarian cancer in order to facilitate the discovery of biomarkers of ovarian cancer drug sensitivity and resistance. Current priorities include whole genome sequencing of ovarian cancer tumours from across Scotland in order to improve patient selection for PARP inhibitors and exomic sequencing of low grade serous ovarian cancers from patients recruited into the GOG281/LOGS study in order to improve patient selection for MEK inhibition.
Professor Neil Carragher, Director of Science, Edinburgh Cancer Research, and Associate Director, Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre
Neil Carragher graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1992 with a BSc Honours degree in Cell and Immunobiology. He took up a position within the pharmaceutical industry at the Yamanouchi Research Institute in Oxford, where he also gained his PhD. He then held consecutive postdoctoral positions within the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, and the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow.
In 2004, Neil returned to industry as Principal Scientist with the Advanced Science and Technology Laboratory at AstraZeneca where he pioneered early multiparametric high-content phenotypic screening approaches. In 2010, he once again made the career switch from industry to academia taking up the post of Principal Investigator at the University of Edinburgh where he was subsequently appointed Professor of Drug Discovery (Personal Chair) in 2015 and Director of Science of Edinburgh Cancer Research in 2024.
Professor Carragher is Associate Director of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre; Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; founding member and co-chair of the European Cell Based Assay Interest group; member of the Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development’s portfolio review panel; and member of the Tessa Jowell Brain Matrix Scientific Advisory Board. Previous positions have included President of the Society of Biomolecular Imaging and Informatics; Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Institute Pasteur Korea; Deputy Chair of Cancer Research UK’s New Agents Committee; and Director of Translation for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh between 2018-2024.
Professor Carragher’s research is focussed on advancing the field of cell-based phenotypic drug discovery, working in close collaboration with several pharmaceutical industry partners and academic groups to identify hit compounds, advance therapeutic lead generation and classify compound mechanism-of-action through multiparametric high content profiling and bespoke image-analysis and machine learning workflows.
His research has contributed to the discovery and translation of several agents into clinical trials including NXP900 currently in phase 1 oncology trials and drug repurposing clinical trials in motor neuron disease. He is also co-founder and management consultant for the early-stage drug discovery spin out company PhenoTherapeutics Ltd.