David Cameron is currently Professor of Oncology at Edinburgh University, and works in NHS Lothian’s cancer centre treating breast cancer patients, and is currently also the part/time deputy director role within the Scottish Government funded Innovative Health Care Delivery Programme (IHDP) which seeks to improve on access to, and enhance the use of, routine data on cancer patients within NHS Scotland. He also chairs the Scottish National SACT programme board and Cancer SACT data group.

Internationally he is the chair of the Breast International Group Executive Board, a Brussels-based umbrella group of 57 worldwide academic/not-for-profit breast cancer trials’ groups, and the vice chair of the steering group of the Oxford-based Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trialists’ Group. He is active in a number of current and past national and international clinical trials in breast cancer.

Prof. Cameron’s first degree was in mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and he received his medical degree in 1986 from St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London. After completing a fellowship and MSc in Clinical Oncology at the University of Edinburgh, he received a M.D. with distinction in 1997 and completed his training as a medical oncologist that same year. Previous other roles have included being Director of the NIHR-funded English National Cancer Research Networks, Scottish CSO lead for clinical cancer research and Director of Cancer Services in NHS Lothian. He was also the clinical director of the Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre and the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. He has been a member of several cancer research funding committees including INCA PHRC, PAIR (Sein), Cancer Research UK Science committee, Cancer Research UK Clinical Research Committee, and from time to time various NIHR funding bodies including EME, clinical trials fellows committee. He is on the advisory board of the ICR and Glasgow Clinical Trials Units, and formerly on the Bordeaux Institute Bergonie SIRIC and the Cardiff Cancer Clinical and Translational Research programmes advisory boards.

The Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre is committed to identifying potential new approaches to treating and preventing cancer.  Being on the same campus as the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, the Edinburgh Breast unit and the regional colorectal, neurological and urological surgical departments, it is in an ideal position to work closely with NHS cancer services.  Many clinicians either run laboratory groups or collaborate with laboratory researchers to enable local patients to contribute to and benefit from new research into cancer.

There is a close-knit team of staff providing support for clinical trials in cancer patients, funded by Cancer Research UK, ECMC, Chief Scientist’s office via NHS R&D, and other local charities and funding sources.  These staff are jointly managed to enable as many patients as possible to be offered the opportunity to enrol in clinical studies, from phase I “first in man” studies right through to late-stage randomised clinical trials.