Richard Turkington

I am a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Medical Oncology at the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queen’s University Belfast and an Honorary Consultant at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre with an interest in oesophago-gastric cancer.  Having graduated in medicine from Queen’s University Belfast I began specialty training in Medical Oncology in 2005.  In 2007 I was awarded a Cancer Research UK Bobby Moore Clinical Research Fellowship to pursue a PhD in novel drug target discovery in colo-rectal cancer under the supervision of Professor Patrick Johnston.  Following completion of my Phd I was appointed as an Academic Clinical Lecturer in the field of oesophago-gastric cancer and in 2013 became a Visiting Research Fellow at the Hutchison/MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald.  My work has been published in high impact journals and in 2014 I received the American Society of Clinical Oncology Merit Award.  My principle research interests include oesophago-gastric cancer and the analysis of genomic datasets for the discovery of biomarkers and mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents.  These discoveries are being translated into clinical advances through the implementation of biomarker-led clinical trials.  As part of the oesophago-gastric cancer team at Queen’s University Belfast I seek to transform the care of oesophago-gastric patients through the integration of laboratory discoveries, translational science and clinical research.