Executive Committee
Ca-PRI is led by the Executive group whose most prominent task is to ensure that the international network exists and is active. However, no network exits without each member being active and we hope that you may want to contribute and obtain the advantages of being member.
David Weller is a Professor of General Practice at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1982 and, after training in general practice and public health, he undertook PhD studies in Adelaide and Nottingham. At Edinburgh he is Postgraduate Dean for taught programmes and is Co-director of the Centre for Population Health Sciences. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Cancer Care since 2013. His long-standing research interests are in cancer screening, early diagnosis and survivorship. More recently he has become involved in cancer control projects in developing countries, supported by agencies including UICC and the British Council. He established the Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI) in 2007 (with the support of Professor Frede Olesen, Aarhus, Denmark) – this is now a global network, promoting research collaboration and capacity building in primary care and cancer. He is a member of the National Cancer Research Institute Primary Care Clinical Studies Development Group (Chair from 2003-2010) and is actively engaged in various government, policy and charity initiatives throughout the UK, relating to cancer research and cancer service development.
Dr. Larissa Nekhlyudov is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is a practicing internist at the Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also Clinical Director, Internal Medicine for Cancer Survivors at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she offers clinical consultations for long term survivors of childhood and adult cancers. Dr. Nekhlyudov is particularly interested in improving the care of cancer survivors and the interplay between primary and oncology care. Over the past decade, Dr. Nekhlyudov has been at the forefront of the field of cancer survivorship, including the development of survivorship care policies and clinical guidelines, educational programs and research. She is an active member of the Society of General Internal Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and served on committees at the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine).
Dr Christine Campbell is a Reader in Cancer and Primary Care at the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh. She leads a programme of research into public understanding of cancer, inequalities in cancer outcomes, and the role of primary care in screening provision and symptomatic diagnosis. She teaches on the Masters of Public Health course at the University of Edinburgh, and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students. Current PhD projects include the role of national cancer initiatives in promoting early cancer diagnosis, and cervical cancer screening approaches in low resource settings. She was involved in the UK's NCRI Primary Care Clinical Studies Group from 2005 – 2017. She sits on the Advisory Panel of the Scottish Cancer Prevention Network and the Executive Group of Ca-PRI, and is a member of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Cancer.
Richard is Professor of Primary Care Oncology at the University of Leeds. Prior to this he was Professor of Primary Care Medicine and is the Director of the North Wales Centre for Primary Care Research, Bangor University. He is a part-time GP in Leeds. His main research interests are in the diagnosis and management of cancers in general practice. He holds various administrative and representative roles including Chair of the (UK) National Cancer Research Institute Primary Care Clinical Studies Group. He leads the Leeds hub of the CanTest Collaborative (www.cantest.org) funded by a Cancer Research UK Catalyst award. He is Chief Investigator of the WICKED Research Programme (Wales Interventions and Cancer Knowledge about Early Diagnosis), funded by Cancer Research Wales. He leads the Leeds hub of the newly commissioned Department of Health Policy Research Unit for Cancer Screening, Awareness and Early Diagnosis. He is a co-investigator on the Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial.
Dr. Peter Vedsted is Professor of Primary Care at The Research Unit for General Practice, and Professor of Innovative Patient Pathways at Silkeborg Diagnostic Centre, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the director of a research group for cancer diagnosis investigating the pathway from symptom to treatment of cancer. The group investigates cancer awareness, healthcare seeking, and conducts clinical studies on the role of family medicine in cancer diagnosis. The centre has special focus on health services research and the organisation of healthcare and general practice. Dr. Vedsted is involved in many of the Danish initiatives to improve cancer diagnosis and patient pathways and is deeply engaged in how general practice can develop and be supported in providing earlier cancer diagnosis.
Jon Emery is the Herman Professor of Primary Care Cancer Research at The University of Melbourne and Western Health, a new Chair developed within the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He is an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow, Director of the Cancer Australia Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group (PC4), and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
Henk van Weert was born in 1955, in the Netherlands. He worked as a general practitioner from 1986 until now and has always combined practice with an appointment at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) in Amsterdam, as a researcher and a teacher. In 2011 he became the head of the department of general practice. Main topics of his research were diagnostic processes, especially in the field of cardiovascular diseases. In 2012 he started a second line of research in oncology. Topics until now include aftercare and palliative care.Content
Fiona Walter is Principal Researcher in Primary Care Cancer Research at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is currently chair of the NCRI Primary Care CSG Early Diagnosis sub-group, and a member of the Early Detection steering committee for the Cambridge Cancer Centre. Her research focuses on the cancer pathway from prevention, screening, early detection and diagnostics to post-treatment care in the primary care setting. She is also interested in the integration of genetics advances into primary care. Fiona holds Honorary Clinical Associate Professorships at the Universities of Melbourne and Western Australia.
Dr. Annette J. Berendsen worked for many years as a GP and is an Assistant Professor and Program Leader of Oncology Research in primary care at the Department of General Practice & Elderly Care Medicine at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. Her research is mainly focused on oncology during the post-diagnosis period, with specific focus on care for patients with cancer, as well as long-term effects of cancer(treatment). She is the editor of the book 'Oncology' for general practitioners. Additionally, she is a co-convener for the WONCA Special Interest Group on Cancer and Palliative Care. Dr. Berendsen has been a member of many groups on behalf of the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG) and the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation, and has developed guidelines and position papers on the care of patients with cancer.
Dr. Aisha Lofters is a Family Physician in Toronto, Canada and Scientist with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor and Clinician Scientist at the University of Toronto in the Department of Family & Community Medicine. She currently holds a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her research interests include cancer screening and prevention with a health equity lens.
Li Li is a Professor of Family Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Mary Ann Swetland Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). He is also Associate Director for Prevention Research of CWRU Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC). He maintains active clinical practice at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
Dr. Li’s research focus on translational preventive oncology integrating population with genomics/epigenetics. As Associate Director for Prevention Research at Case CCC, Dr. Li oversees research that cuts across all aspects of population sciences ranging from epidemiology and behavioral sciences to genomics and prevention. He is the contact PI (MPI) of the Case CCC Cancer Disparities SPORE P20 program recently funded by the National Cancer Institute. He founded the Clinical Translational Science PhD program at CWRU in 2015. He is also director of the Case-China Health Initiative, a program established in 2010 that promotes medical student exchange between CWRU School of Medicine and major Chinese Universities, and trains family and community physicians in China. He is director-at-large of American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO), and editor-in-chief of Family Medicine and Community Health, an international journal published by BMJ.
Charles Helsper is an MD and clinical epidemiologist, with a background in primary care. He leads research projects concerning the role of the GP in cancer care and is based in the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, which is part of the University Medical Centre (UMC) Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is also a teacher in the GP faculty training Utrecht and in the advisory board of The Healthcare Innovation Center (THINC.), which focuses on increasing impact of health care innovations, using innovative research methodology .
His research addresses the role of the GP in cancer care, including case finding of those at high risk of cancer, optimizing the diagnostic pathway, support for shared decision after diagnosis, and guidance during- and after treatment. To attain a comprehensive perspective of the role of the GP in cancer care, with a focus on clinical impact, several methodologic approaches are used, including; randomised controlled trials, big data analysis, qualitative methods, implementation research.Content
Dr Rosalind Adam is a Clinical Lecturer within the Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen. She graduated from University of Glasgow in 2005, and completed General Practice training in Southeast Scotland. Dr Adam practices as a General Practitioner in Aberdeen. She was awarded a Chief Scientist Office Clinical Academic Fellowship between 2014-2017. During her PhD she designed and developed "Can-Pain", an app to help patients to manage cancer pain.