Catharine West

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Catharine West is a British cancer researcher who specialised in radiation biology. She is an emeritus professor at the University of Manchester, where she worked from 2002 until 2022. [1]

Contents

Education

In 1978, West completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of York, [1] followed by a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 1983 at The Institute of Cancer Research (within the University of London). Her doctoral dissertation was titled The effect of cytotoxic drugs and radiation on mammalian cells and multicellular spheroid in vitro. [1]

Career

From 1983 to 1985, West worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Cancer Centre at the University of Rochester in New York. This was followed by a number of appointments at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research where she worked for 16 years, [2] [3] first as a scientist and then as a senior scientist. In 2002, she moved to the University of Manchester where she worked until her retirement in December 2022. During her time at the University of Manchester, West established the Transnational Radiobiology Group, [4] taught postgraduate courses in radiobiology, [5] examined internal and external examinees, and supervised students studying doctoral degrees in medicine.

In March 2023, The University of Manchester organised an international conference called Wisdom from The West, to honour West for her contributions to the field of radiobiology. During the conference, many international delegates talked about their experience working with Prof. West. At the end of the conference, she shared her experience with the community and provided 15 Radiobiology Research Principles that she learned over the years. [6]

Research

West's research focused on predicting radiosensitivity and hypoxia in tissues of cancer patients post-radiotherapy. She developed an interest in the use of human genomics data to personalise radiotherapy to minimise radiation toxicity in cancer patients.

In November 2009, the Radio-Genomics Consortium was established under the American National Cancer Institute, in order to identify genetic determinants of radiotherapy toxicity. West and Barry Rosenstein (from the Icahn School of Medicine in New York) were appointed as the lead investigators for the consortium. [7] The aim of the consortium is to characterise the individual molecular profiles that reflect relevant biological phenotypes, to help predict tumour and normal tissue response to radiation.

Awards and fellowships

In 2016, West was received the Weiss Medal from the UK Association for Radiation Research, for setting up the REQUITE international consortium. [8] In 2017, West received the Bacq and Alexander Award from the European Radiation Research Society. [9]

West has received honorary fellowships from the British Institute of Radiology [1] [ when? ] and from the Royal College of Radiologists in 2018. [10]

Publications

West's most-cited publications include:

Related Research Articles

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Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle accelerator. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body, and have not spread to other parts. It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor. Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of oncology concerned with radiotherapy is called radiation oncology. A physician who practices in this subspecialty is a radiation oncologist.

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A radiation oncologist is a specialist physician who uses ionizing radiation in the treatment of cancer. Radiation oncology is one of the three primary specialties, the other two being surgical and medical oncology, involved in the treatment of cancer. Radiation can be given as a curative modality, either alone or in combination with surgery and/or chemotherapy. It may also be used palliatively, to relieve symptoms in patients with incurable cancers. A radiation oncologist may also use radiation to treat some benign diseases, including benign tumors. In some countries, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are controlled by a single oncologist who is a "clinical oncologist". Radiation oncologists work closely with other physicians such as surgical oncologists, interventional radiologists, internal medicine subspecialists, and medical oncologists, as well as medical physicists and technicians as part of the multi-disciplinary cancer team. Radiation oncologists undergo four years of oncology-specific training whereas oncologists who deliver chemotherapy have two years of additional training in cancer care during fellowship after internal medicine residency in the United States.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiation treatment planning</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Catharine West". Research Explorer The University of Manchester. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "GEO Accession viewer". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "Catharine West". orcid.org. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  4. ↑ Zhou, Cong (6 April 2012). "Statistical Considerations of Optimal Study Design for Human Plasma Proteomics and Biomarker Discovery". Journal of Proteome Research. 11 (4): 2103–2113. doi:10.1021/pr200636x. PMC   3320746 . PMID   22338609.
  5. ↑ "NHS website" (PDF).
  6. ↑ Best, Sally (2023-03-23). "Wisdom from The West". Manchester Cancer Research Centre. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  7. ↑ "Radiogenomics Consortium (RGC) | EGRP/DCCPS/NCI/NIH". National Cancer Institute, Radiogenomics Consortium. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "Association for Radiation Research – Weiss Medal". www.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  9. ↑ "EUROPEAN RADIATION RESEARCH SOCIETY". www.errs.eu. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  10. ↑ "Catharine West". The Royal College of Radiologists. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  11. ↑ Barnett, Gillian C.; West, Catherine M. L.; Dunning, Alison M.; Elliott, Rebecca M.; Coles, Charlotte E.; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Burnet, Neil G. (February 2009). "Normal tissue reactions to radiotherapy: towards tailoring treatment dose by genotype". Nature Reviews Cancer. 9 (2): 134–142. doi:10.1038/nrc2587. ISSN   1474-1768. PMC   2670578 . PMID   19148183.
  12. ↑ Schumacher, Fredrick R.; Al Olama, Ali Amin; Berndt, Sonja I.; Benlloch, Sara; Ahmed, Mahbubl; Saunders, Edward J.; Dadaev, Tokhir; Leongamornlert, Daniel; Anokian, Ezequiel; Cieza-Borrella, Clara; Goh, Chee; Brook, Mark N.; Sheng, Xin; Fachal, Laura; Dennis, Joe (July 2018). "Association analyses of more than 140,000 men identify 63 new prostate cancer susceptibility loci". Nature Genetics. 50 (7): 928–936. doi:10.1038/s41588-018-0142-8. ISSN   1546-1718. PMC   6568012 . PMID   29892016.
  13. ↑ Loncaster, J. A.; Harris, A. L.; Davidson, S. E.; Logue, J. P.; Hunter, R. D.; Wycoff, C. C.; Pastorek, J.; Ratcliffe, P. J.; Stratford, I. J.; West, C. M. (2001-09-01). "Carbonic anhydrase (CA IX) expression, a potential new intrinsic marker of hypoxia: correlations with tumor oxygen measurements and prognosis in locally advanced carcinoma of the cervix". Cancer Research. 61 (17): 6394–6399. ISSN   0008-5472. PMID   11522632.
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