Dr Iain McNeish works at the Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre at Barts and the London School of Medicine where he has been a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist and Senior Lecturer in Medical Oncology since 2004.

"a PhD is not an end in itself - it is just the first step in an academic career"

He obtained degrees in Physiological Sciences and Medicine at the University of Oxford, worked as a Senior House Officer at the Western Infirmary Glasgow and became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1995. He then held a Clinical Research Fellowship at the University of Birmingham, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1998. After that, he moved to London as an ICRF Clinician Scientist and Specialist Registrar in Medical Oncology, at the Molecular Oncology Unit, Hammersmith Hospital.

What are your research goals?

The overall purpose of my research is to understand the biology of ovarian cancer – in particular abnormalities in the control of apoptosis (programmed cell death) - and to use these as a basis for developing novel therapies. These abnormalities prevent tumour cells dying when exposed to chemotherapy and we are attempting to understand why this occurs and how it can be overcome using gene therapy. Clinically, I am a medical oncologist specialising in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

What is a typical day for you?

Clearly, there is no such thing as a typical day, but on three days a week, I am in the lab doing experiments and discussing research with the members of the team and other colleagues. This does, occasionally, involve the consumption of strong black coffee!
On two days a week, I see patients in out-patient clinics, mostly to plan chemotherapy treatment, but also to review patients on follow up and see new patients who have just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Advice to those starting out