Executive Committee

Dr Ceri Bygrave is a graduate of UWCM Cardiff and did her junior doctor training in South Wales and Australia. She then progressed as a haematology SpR in the Wales deanery which included 2 years research looking at the microenvironment in AML, supervised by Professor Alan Burnett and culminating in an MPhil. Myeloma has been her interest since undergraduate days and she was appointed as Myeloma Lead in UHW Cardiff in October 2014 and has helped set up the service and develop the clinical and research aspects of the department. She is also a member of the UKMRA and the MUK CTN.

John trained at Cambridge University qualifying in 1992. Following Junior Doctor training in East Anglia he moved to Leeds as a Specialist Registrar in Haematology where he completed both training and his PhD studying bone disease and how the underlying systems can be targeted to both prevent and reverse bone destruction.

John has been a Consultant Haematologist in Leeds and Mid Yorkshire NHS Trusts since 2005 and holds Honorary Senior Lecturer positions in the Universities of Leeds and York alongside his role as Mid Yorkshire Trust Research Director. His main research interests are multiple myeloma and bone disease. He is the UK Chief investigator for the ongoing bone study comparing Denusomab^©and Zoledronic Acid, a member Trials management groups of other Uk studies including NCRI Myeloma X and the upcoming Myeloma XII trials and has contributed to the most recent UK Myeloma Guidelines

Consultant Haematologist. University College London Hospitals & North Middlesex University Hospital

Dr Neil Rabin is a consultant haematologist with a specialist interest in myeloma and plasma cell disorders at University College London Hospital (UCLH) and North Middlesex University Hospital, as well as Honorary Associate Professor at University College London (UCL). He graduated from University College London Medical School, and completed his postgraduate training in London. He was awarded a PhD from University College London for his work investigating novel therapies for myeloma bone disease, prior to taking up his consultant post.

In his current role he works within the large myeloma team at UCLH where he is responsible for the myeloma autologous stem cell programme. He is principal and co-investigator on several studies evaluating new treatments for myeloma, both at diagnosis and in relapse. He on the trial management committee of national trials and is a member of the UK Myeloma Research Alliance. He is actively involved in training and education and was until recently Training Programme Director for Haematology (North Central London).

Dr Rabin has been on the Executive Committee of the UKMF since 2013 and is the current Chair. He has particular interest in advocacy and promoting the care of patients at a national level

Dr Jenner is Haematology Clinical Lead at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust with managerial responsibility for the clinical and laboratory service. He leads the myeloma team at UHS with direct responsibility for clinical management of myeloma and plasma cell disorders. The myeloma service provides care to patients in Southampton and South West Hampshire as well as tertiary referrals from other hospitals for specialist input including for clinical trials and transplantation. Dr Jenner is principal investigator of a portfolio of myeloma clinical trials encompassing all stages of the disease. He is the Co-Chief Investigator of the MUK ninestudies and is a member of the trial management groups for the Myeloma XI and XIV studies.

Dr Jenner was a member of the Guidelines Development Committee for the NICE Myeloma Guidelines published in February 2016. He is a core member of the NCRI/UKMRA Myeloma Clinical Trials subcommittee and chairs the British Society of Haematology Relapsed Myeloma Guidelines group. He is was elected as a member of the UK Myeloma Forum Executive committee in March 2018

June 2018

Karthik Ramasamy MBBS, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD

Karthik Ramasamy is a Consultant Haematologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Associate Professor of Haematology, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Oxford UK. Dr Ramasamy is the Director of the Oxford Myeloma Translational Research Centre https://oxford-myeloma.org.uk, and a Lead Clinician for myeloma and other plasma cell dyscrasias at the Thames Valley Cancer Alliance Group. He is the Divisional Lead for Cancer research for National Institute for Health Research, Clinical Research Network Thames Valley and South Midlands, UK. Since 2021 Karthik chairs the NIHR Haem Onc and Lymphoma oversight group. He is an Executive member of the UK Myeloma Forum and is an active member of UK Myeloma Research Alliance. Karthik serves on the Myeloma UK Board, a patient charity exclusively dealing with myeloma advocacy and research. Dr Ramasamy completed his haematology training in London. Following this, he completed three years as a clinical research fellow working on bone marrow microenvironment in myeloma at King’s College London. Dr Ramasamy is a Chief Investigator of national myeloma studies and his translational research interests are early diagnosis of myeloma with current Medical research council and cancer research UK funding, bone disease and myeloma drug resistance mechanisms. Karthik has published over 100 papers and authored textbooks/ chapters on myeloma.

Academic Interests

Early diagnosis of myeloma and its precursor states: Collaborators – Prof C Schofield (Chemistry, Oxford), Prof Guy Pratt (Univ of Birmingham), Dr Ross Sadler (Oxford University Hospital), Prof Kassim Javaid ( Botnar Research Centre, Oxford University)

Pathophysiology and clinical management of myeloma induced bone disease: Collaborators – Prof K Javaid and Dr C Edwards (Botnar Research Centre, Oxford University)

Development of drug resistance and characterise the BM microenvironment in myeloma:

Collaborators – Prof Udo Oppermann ( NDORMS, Oxford), Prof Anjan Thakurta (NDORMS, Oxford), Dr Sarah Gooding ( WIMM, Oxford) , Prof Paresh Vyas ( WIMM, Oxford)

Martin Kaiser is a Clinician Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research and Honorary Consultant Haematologist at The Royal Marsden Hospital London. He trained in medicine and haematology in Germany and joined the ICR and RMH in 2011. His research focuses on molecular biomarker discovery and target identification for stratified treatment in myeloma, with a focus on molecular high-risk disease. He also has a major interest in novel imaging approaches in myeloma. Martin leads a number of multi-centre clinical trials in myeloma, including one of the first stratified trials for high-risk myeloma. His laboratory performs central genetic and molecular analyses for a number of national clinical trials. He is Translational Lead for the UKMRA.

Department of Oncology & Metabolism, University of Sheffield

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/oncology-metabolism/staff/lawson

Shelly graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology in 1997 before completing a PhD at the University of Bristol focused on the use of DNA vaccines. In 2001 she did her first post-doc at the University of Oxford on biomaterials used in bone tissue engineering and on the binding affinities of bisphosphonates to bone. In 2005 she moved to the University of Sheffield to work on multiple myeloma, where she became a Research Fellow and then a Lecturer. Her work has focused on developing and utilizing several preclinical models of myeloma to design better treatment strategies. Her current research interests include the use of combination therapies to repair myeloma-induced bone disease and the development of novel bone-targeted anti-myeloma therapies.

Dr Sive is a Consultant Haematologist at UCLH, where he is the Clinical Service Lead for a large local and referral population.

He qualified from Manchester University, before carrying out postgraduate haematology training in London. He was awarded a PhD from Cambridge University on the use of high-throughput genomics techniques in blood cancers. He returned to London and was appointed a consultant in 2016, moving to a myeloma-specific consultant post at UCLH in 2019.

Dr Sive is actively involved in myeloma research, as a member of the Trial Management Group for both the CARDAMON and Myeloma XV trials, and a member of the UK Myeloma Research Alliance. He is on the UKMF Guidelines committee, where he chairs the First Line Treatment sub-group.

He was elected to the UKMF Executive Committee in January 2020.

Dr Sally Moore undertook her specialist registrar training in haematology training at University College London Hospital where she undertook a clinical fellow post in myeloma working with Professor Kwee Yong. Upon relocation to Bath in 2013 she established a specialist myeloma service and in 2018 she also joined the myeloma team at the Churchill Hospital Oxford and currently co-chairs the Thames Valley MDT. In spring 2023 she will be taking up the Myeloma Clinical Lead post at University Hospital Bristol.

In 2015 Dr Moore established the Southwest Myeloma Group, she is clinical co-lead for the Myeloma NIHR Health Information Collaborative (HIC) founded in 2021 with support from Myeloma UK which is the first step in establishing a nationwide myeloma registry. She is a member of the UKMRA and is PI on a wide portfolio of clinical trials.

Dr Moore’s research interests include the impact exercise may have on disease progression and treatment optimization, infection in myeloma and cardiac amyloidosis.

Dr Rachel Hall MBBS, BSc, MRCP, FRCPath

Consultant Haematologist, The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Rachel Hall qualified at University College London in 1993. After working as a junior doctor in Haematology and Oncology at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, she decided to pursue a career in Haematology. Rachel has worked in hospitals around the Wessex region training in Haematology and also worked for 2 years in Perth, Western Australia.

Rachel has been a Consultant Haematologist at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital since 2003 and has an interest in Myeloma, Lymphoma and Stem Cell Transplantation. She has set up specialist, multidisciplinary Myeloma clinics at Bournemouth and has a large clinical trial portfolio for Myeloma. Rachel is also involved with Myeloma UK and runs regular patient information days and is on the clinical trials network steering board.

Dr Guy Pratt trained at Cambridge University qualifying in 1989. Following junior doctor training in London he specialized as a specialist registrar in Haematology in Liverpool and Leeds. In Leeds he completed an MD thesis looking at the genetic events involved in chromosomal translocations involving chromosome 14q32 in multiple myeloma patients.

Dr Pratt has been a Consultant Haematologist in Birmingham since 2001 as a clinical academic working in the School of Cancer Sciences in the University of Birmingham as a University Senior Lecturer and as an Honorary NHS Consultant at Heart of England NHS Trust. His main research interests are multiple myeloma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. His research interests are T cell immunity, genetic polymorphisms, investigating biomarkers including the serum free light chain and translational research currently leading on a trial of a parp inhibitor in CLL. He has developed a large number of collaborations nationally with a growing publication output and is currently lead for developing and promoting guidelines relating to plasma cell disorders.

Professor of Haematology & Myeloma Studies, Consultant Haematologist

St James Institute of Oncology, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Leeds, UK

I am a graduate of the University of Glasgow School of Medicine. I received my higher professional training in haematology in the West of Scotland. After completion of my PhD, I was appointed as a consultant Haematologist in the West of Scotland before moving to take up my present post based at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, in 2002.

I run a small peer-review grant-funded basic research group with areas of interests in transplantation and tumour immunology.

I am currently the President of the British Society of Blood & Marrow Transplantation. I represent the transplant society at the Government strategic and national commissioning level. I am a member of the NCRI Haematology-Oncology Clinical Studies Group. I am the secretary of the United Kingdom Myeloma Forum (UKMF) and have represented the interests of myeloma clinicians and patients in NICE reviews. I am a member of the NCRI Haem-Onc Myeloma sub-group and Principal Investigator for NCRI Myeloma X. In addition, I am a Board member of Myeloma UK and Medical Editor of Myeloma Today.

Dr Simon Stern, Consultant Haematologist

Dr Stern graduated from St George’s Hospital Medical School, and his training in Haematology was at the Hammersmith, Charing Cross and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals. He has been a Consultant Haematologist since 1999, initially at Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, and since 2010 at Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. His main clinical interests centre on the haematological malignancies in general, and multiple myeloma in particular. He runs a weekly myeloma clinic, and has been the Principal Investigator for number of clinical trials in the disease.

He pursues his interest in clinical guidelines through his membership of UK Myeloma Forum Guidelines Group and the British Society for Haematology Haemato-oncology Task Force. He is also a member of the Myeloma UK Early Diagnosis Working Group.

Dr Sarah Lawless, MB BCH BAO Hons MRCP FRCPath

Dr Lawless is a Consultant Haematologist at Belfast City Hospital specialising in myeloma and lymphoma. Dr Lawless graduated with honours from Queen’s University Belfast and began her career in haematology at BCH in 2008.

She has as special interest in plasma cell disorders and is a member of the plasma cell subcommittee of the chronic malignancy working party group of The European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). She is currently primary investigator of two EBMT studies investigating plasma cell leukaemia and rare myeloma subtypes. She is actively involved in clinical trials at BCH and is primary investigator on several myeloma trials at this site.

Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer

Dr Rakesh Popat graduated from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School, London and trained in haematology at St Bartholomew Hospital. During this time he completed a PhD thesis focusing on designing scientifically based treatment combinations for myeloma. This included pre-clinical work investigating novel combination treatments and developing them into early phase clinical studies. He was awarded a fellowship to visit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA where he gained experience both in their drug-discovery laboratory and their clinical program.

In his current role he works within the large myeloma team at UCLH. He leads the Phase 1 clinical trials program, bringing experimental myeloma treatments into the clinic. In addition, he is the Industry lead to the UK Myeloma Research Alliance, the North Thames Clinical Research Network lead for Haematology and site lead for the Bloodwise Trials Acceleration Program. He is the principle and national lead investigator for a number of clinical trials and collaborates to translational research at UCL Cancer Institute.

Catherine graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1996 and completed her pharmacist foundation training in Nottingham and Derby before moving to London to specialise in Cancer. She has led Haematology Pharmacy Services in several teaching hospitals and hasrecently been appointed to a Consultant Haematology Pharmacist post at University Hospitals Leicester. For three years she was seconded to NHSE as a regional cancer commissioning pharmacist. Catherine is an active prescriber within myeloma and is involved in researching the scope of practice of pharmacists prescribing in myeloma. Catherine is a memberof the UKMS/Myeloma UK Digital info-session working group.As Vice-Chair, she has supported the UKMS pharmacy group work programme and is delighted to be taking on the role of chair.

Dr Jennifer Travers is a consultant haematologist at the Beatson, West of Scotland Cancer Centre specialising in plasma cell dyscrasias.

Dr Travers graduated from the University of Glasgow School of Medicine, completing her junior doctor training in Glasgow, followed by completion of higher specialist training on the West of Scotland haematology Programme.

In her current role she works within the myeloma team at the Beatson and is involved in clinical myeloma service development, increasing multidisciplinary team working and expanding the myeloma clinical trial portfolio.

Her main areas of interest include multiple myeloma and AL amyloidosis , being the Principal Investigator for a number of clinical trials, including NCRI Myeloma trials and has recently joined the UK Myeloma Research Alliance.

Her general haematology commitment includes haematology consultation for the Golden Jubilee National Hospital where she is the Laboratory Director

Jackie Quinn, Myeloma Clinical Nurse Specialist, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast Trust.Jackie qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1990 following RGN training in Belfast City Hospital. She has BA (Hons) Social Science, Post Grad Cert Spec Practice Oncology Nursing, NMP and MSSc qualifications from Queens University Belfast. Jackie has completed a short course in counselling and CBT. She spent a short time working in a general medical ward and specialised in oncology from April 1992. From 1998 she has specialised in Haemato-oncology, working in the Ward, the Day Unit and Haematology clinical trials, as a CRN. Jackie took up her current post as a Myeloma Nurse Specialist in Belfast City Hospital in 2006. Jackie completed NMP course in 2009 and set up a Nurse led Myeloma treatment clinic in 2010, prescribing for patients with Myeloma/Amyloidosis at all stages in their treatment pathway. Jackie is a member of the NICAN CNS Nurse’s group. She facilitates the N.I. regional Myeloma Support Group. Jackie’s main interest is supporting patients’ and their families, maintaining independence and Quality of Life. She is delighted to take on the role as chair.

Wendy is the Executive Manager for the UKMS. For over 15 years she has been the first point of call for inbound queries. She supports the Executive Committee in its daily work. Prior to the UKMS, Wendy worked as a marketing manager for an international law firm in London. She holds a post-graduate diploma in Public Relations from Manchester Metropolitan University. She has a family with two cheeky teenagers and an even cheekier dog.

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Elected Members

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Dr Ceri Bygrave

Dr John Ashcroft

Dr Neil Rabin

Dr Matthew Jenner

Dr Karthik Ramasamy

Dr Martin Kaiser

Dr Shelly Lawson

Dr Jonathan Sive

Sally Moore

Dr Rachel Hall

Prof Guy Pratt

Professor Gordon Cook

Dr Simon Stern

Dr Sarah Lawless

Dr Rakesh Popat

Catherine Loughran

Dr Jennifer Travers

Jackie Quinn

Wendy Notowicz