Prof. Stefan Symeonides is a member of the CDDF Board of Directors
Prof.Stefan Symeonides is a Medical Oncologist and Senior Lecturer in Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre and at the linked Edinburgh Cancer Centre (NHS Lothian).
After clinical training in the UK (Cambridge & Edinburgh), Australia (Melbourne) & New Zealand (Christchurch), and research in academia (Cambridge & Edinburgh), clinic (Edinburgh) and industry (AstraZeneca, various UK Biotechs), he is currently in a CSO Clinician Scientist Fellowship and leads bridging the space between pre-clinical and clinical cancer drug development in Edinburgh, linking laboratory and clinical research
In the clinic, Prof. Symeonides leads the Phase I Trials Unit and also has a specialty focus on renal cancers within the Uro-oncology team. He leads a growing portfolio of early phase trials and also continues in drug development, working with CRUK’s Centre for Drug Development and in an advisory role for a number of UK Biotechs.
His research focus is on novel therapeutic discovery and development. Although he works across cytotoxic, small molecule, metabolic and even psychological therapies, his main focus is immunotherapies and he is the clinical lead for the Edinburgh Cancer Immunology Research Network. He is particularly interested in combining cancer immunotherapies to improve their activity. His current FAK-PD1 trial (NCT02758587) of combination PD-1 (pembrolizumab) and FAK (defactinib) inhibition is an example of how scientific discoveries at the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre (Serrells et al, Cell 2015) are being translated into the clinic (running in centres UK-wide across the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre network), while maintaining the link with ongoing laboratory work to refine and optimize treatment.