Our Principal Investigators
Dr. Harveer Dev - Clinical Lecturer
Harveer is a CRUK Clinical Lecturer in the Early Detection Programme and an Honorary Specialty Registrar in Urology. With a particular interest in genome stability and prostate cancer, his research aims to improve understanding of therapeutic-vulnerability pathways of cancerous gene mutations and their relationship to disease progression, treatment response and clinical drug resistance, seeking ultimately to identify and stratify patients to individualised therapies at earlier stages of disease.
Harveer holds a Medical Degree and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, as well as an MSc in Surgical Sciences from the University of Edinburgh. After completing an Academic Surgery Foundation Programme there, Harveer became a NIKR Academic Clinical Fellow for the Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and a Clinical Doctoral Fellow of the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute before he was appointed Honorary Speciality Registrar in Urology in 2005.
A Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Radiation Oncology from 2015 to 2016, Harveer was appointed CRUK Clinical Lecturer in April 2020.
Professor Tim Eisen - Professor of Medical Oncology
Tim is a Professor of Medical Oncology at The University of Cambridge and Vice President of Roche Home Institute. His research focuses primarily on renal cell carcinoma, with a particular interest in the curative treatment of localised disease and the development of novel therapies. With broad experience at senior levels of academia, clinical practice, industry and the charity sector, he is especially interested in bridging the interface between them.
Tim trained at the Royal Marsden Hospital and took up the Chair of Medical Oncology in 2006, gaining industry experience as Vice President of AstraZeneca from 2014. His major research achievements include the first study of a BRAF inhibitor in melanoma, identification of genetic risk factors for lung cancer, and development of VEGFR receptor inhibitors as a new standard of care for patients with renal cell carcinoma. In 2019, Tim was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Working closely with several patient support charities, Tim has led the Macmillan Cancer Support Advisory Board for ten years and became a trustee in 2006. A keen fitness enthusiast outside of work, he credits his biggest gains to having to carry his young daughter and her ‘injured foot’ up and down mountains while holidaying in Austria!
Dr. James Jones - NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Medical Oncology
James is an Academic Clinical Fellow and Lecturer based at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the MRC Cancer Unit. With a particular interest in how the body’s response to a tumour influences cancer progression, his research investigates how a tumour’s microenvironment influences treatment efficacy, aiming to inform optimally-tailored treatment choices and improved therapies for the future.
Dividing his time between the clinic and the lab, James investigates the role of neutrophil extracellular traps in cancer progression as part of Dr Jacqui Shields’ laboratory. He is involved in a number of projects related to kidney cancer and was awarded a clinical Lectureship in Medical Oncology in early 2020. Prior to taking up his clinical fellowship, James also studied Crohn’s disease as an Academic Foundation Trainee in Professor Arthur Kaer’s lab.
Alongside his Medical Degree, James also holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he demonstrated the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in protecting cancerous pancreatic tumours from the immune system. Outside of work, he’s set his sights on climbing all of Scotland's Munro mountains, all over 3,000 feet high. With 20 already under his belt, he ‘only’ has another 260 to go!
Dr Juliet Usher-Smith - Clinical Lecturer
Dr Juliet Usher-Smith is a GP and Associate Professor of General Practice within the Primary Care Unit in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. Her research focuses on optimising the implementation of risk-stratified medicine to promote prevention and prognostication of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Within this area she leads work developing and validating of risk models, as well as considering the societal, psychological, behavioural and financial aspects associated with their implementation.
Within the Urological Malignancies Virtual Institute, she works closely with Professor Grant Stewart in the Department of Surgery on a programme of work relating to screening and surveillance for kidney cancer. This includes a series of projects evaluating potential screening strategies for kidney cancer, the Yorkshire Kidney Screening Trial which was the first trial of its kind to assess the feasibility of incorporating an additional abdominal CT-scan within lung cancer screening programmes, and studies to improve the use and communication of risk around recurrence of disease in patients treated with surgery for kidney cancer.
Dr Hannah Harrison - Research Associate
Since moving into public health research in 2018, Hannah has been involved in projects investigating risk-stratification for cancer screening, early detection and follow-up. Her current project, funded by CRUK, is investigating multifactorial models for early detection of common cancers using electronic health records. She is also co-leading a NIHR RfPB grant, to develop a new prediction tool for kidney cancer prognosis and improve informed decision-making about risk-stratified follow-up, in close collaboration with the UMVI.
Follow her on X: @dr_h_harrison
Dr Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar - Assistant Professor
Bio coming soon.
In memory of Dr Charlie Massie
Charlie was a Group Leader based at the Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge. Charlie was an inaugural group leader within the Cambridge Early Detection Programme, now the Early Cancer Institute. His particular research interests included cell-free DNA epigenetics, early cancer detection and data-driven insights into disease biology.
Before becoming Group Leader, Charlie worked as a Senior Research Associate at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, where he focused on the non-invasive genomics analysis of cancer using circulating-tumour DNA. As well as a BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in Oncology, Charlie had a wealth of postdoctoral experience in functional genomics, cancer genomics, UK Prostate ICGC and liquid biopsy work.
Charlie passed away in May 2023, he will be greatly missed by colleagues in the UM Programme. His work is being continued by Dr Harveer Dev.
