Caledonian Cachexia Collaborative
Below you will find members of our collaborative. We represent researchers at varying stages of their academic career and in a diverse range of disciplines. We are fortunate to attract a high calibre of doctoral and post-doctoral students.
Our Team
Andrew Crumley
Consultant General and Upper GI Surgeon
NHS Forth Valley
Mr Crumley has an interest in cachexia, systemic inflammatory response and it's clinical application in patients with cancer.
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Barry J A Laird
Reader in Palliative Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Consultant, Edinburgh Cancer Centre, St Columba's Hospice
Dr Laird is an academic clinician specialising in palliative medicine. The main focus of his research is understanding how the tumour-host interaction in cancer is implicated in the genesis of cachexia.
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Marie Fallon
St Columba's Hospice Chair of Palliative Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Professor Fallon leads the Edinburgh Palliative and Supportive Care group (EpaS) and is a world leader in palliative care research.
Her multidisciplinary group’s key theme is to improve the care of patients with life-limiting illness with a strong focus on cancer.
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Stephen Wigmore
Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh
Consultant Liver and Pancreas Surgeon
Professor Wigmore has a longstanding interest in cancer cachexia and therapeutic interventions to ameliorate the effects of cancer on host physiology.
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Ross Dolan
Clinical Lecturer, Academic Unit of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow Royal Infirmary
He has an interest in the systemic inflammatory response, body composition, tumour pathophysiology and physical function
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Thomas Di Virgilio
Post Doctoral Research Fellow, university of Edinburgh
Dr Di Virgilio uses non invasive brain stimulation techniques to examine brain-to-muscle communications in response to injury or disease. He is interested in the role of TMS in cachexia pathophysiology.
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Robert Paval
PhD Doctoral Fellow, University of Stirling
Robert's research focuses on examining the role of intelectin-1 and other adipokines in cancer cachexia, using cell culture studies, RNA and protein manipulation and the use of various high throughput techniques, as well as advanced methods of data analysis.
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Rebekah Patton
Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh and St Columba's Hospice Care, Trainee in Internal medicine
Dr Patton set up and established the Revolution trial. Her predominant research interest is in assessing the biological basis of symptoms.
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Tanvir Abbass
Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, Specialty Trainee in Surgery, NHS GGC
Tanvir's research is focussed on the role of MUST, systemic inflammation, cachexia, frailty in colorectal and lung cancer.
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Leo Brown
Clinical Research Fellow & Specialty Registrar
NHS Lothian / NHS Forth Valley / University of Edinburgh
Leo is currently undertaking a PhD at University of Edinburgh with Mr Skipworth and Professor Wigmore with focus on the phenotyping and risk stratification for cancer cachexia in patients with malignancy of the upper gastrointestinal tract.
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Holger Husi
Reader in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Glasgow
Dr Husi specialised in large-scale biosystems investigations and analysis, covering areas in neuroscience, renal complications, cardiovascular disorders, pulmonary and autoimmune diseases, muscle wasting and cancer. He is the lead of the Pan-omics database initiative.
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Richard J E Skipworth
Honorary Reader in Surgery, University of Edinburgh
Consultant Surgeon, NHS Lothian
Mr Skipworth research focusses on clinical and translational aspects of cancer cachexia. He is an honorary Reader at University of Edinburgh, NHS Research Scotland Clinician and secretary of the Cancer Cachexia Society.
Publications
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Donald C McMillan
Professor of Surgical Science, University of Glasgow
Professor McMillan is a world leader in inflammation and cachexia research in cancer. He developed the Glasgow Prognostic Score which has now been examined in over 300 studies in over 150,000 patients. This score is now advocated in cachexia clinical guidelines and cancer nutrition assessment.
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Iain Gallagher
Lecturer in Health and Exercise, University of Stirling
Dr Gallagher's research is focussed on human muscle pathology as well as developmental biology. He returned to Immunology with a post doctoral position at the Roslin Institute (2011) before working at the University of Stirling.
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Ines Boehm
Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
Dr Boehm's research focusses on the role of the cellular and molecular characterisation of the mammalian neuromuscular junction in health and disease
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Iain D Philips
Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Edinburgh Cancer Centre, NRS Research Fellow, Clinical lead for oligometastatic SABR service
He has an interest in prehab and biomarkers of outcome in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and led the setting up of an early intervention prehabilitation clinic in Lothian.
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Charlie Hall
Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh, Specialty Trainee in Palliative Medicine
Dr Hall's predominant research interest is in the role of optimising rehabilitation in patients with advanced cancer. He led the day-to-day running of the Energy Trial and his MD focussed on this.
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Josh McGovern
Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, Specialty Trainee in Surgery, NHS GGC
Josh's research focusses on the role of the muscle and the inflammatory response in cancer cachexia. He is currently undertaking a higher degree examining cancer cachexia associated parameters.
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Janice Miller
University of Edinburgh, Specialty Trainee in Surgery, NHS SE Scotland
Janice's research examined the characterisation and mechanisms of altered body composition and tissue wasting in cancer cachexia.
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Judith Sayers
Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh & St Columba's Hospice Care,
Specialty Trainee in Surgery, NHS Lothian
Miss Sayers is currently a research fellow at St Columba's Hospice, and is working on the Revolution trial. She is working on cachexia characterisation in advanced cancer and surgical patients.
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Peter Hall
Reader in Cancer Informatics and Health Economics, Consultant Medical Oncologist, University of Edinburgh
Dr Hall is an academic Medical Oncologist with a research interest in Health Economics, Data Science and Health Technology Assessment in Cancer. The focus of his research is on the development of improved methods for efficient research design, cost-effectiveness analysis and the measurement of clinical and socioeconomic outcomes using data obtained from clinical trials and routinely collected within health systems.
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