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
Barry J A Laird
Professor of Palliative and Supportive Care, University of Edinburgh.
Consultant Edinburgh Cancer Centre and St Columba's Hospice Care
Professor Laird's main focus of research is symptom science around the host-tumour interaction is implicated in the genesis of cachexia. He is a director of the Cancer Cachexia Society and a board member of the Society for Cachexia and Wasting Disorders.
Richard J. E. Skipworth
Honorary Professor of Surgery, University of Edinburgh.
Consultant Surgeon, NHS Lothian
Professor Skipworth's research focusses on clinical and translational aspects of cancer cachexia. He is the treasurer of the Cancer Cachexia Society and a board member of the Society for Cachexia and Wasting Disorders.
Richard.Skipworth@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Donald C McMillan
Professor of Surgical Sciences, University of Glasgow
Professor McMillan is a world leader in inflammation and cachexia research in cancer. He developed the Glasgow Prognostic Score which has been examine din over 300 studies and incorporated in cachexia clinical guidelines.
Stephen Wigmore
Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery,
University of Edinburgh
Professor Wigmore has a longstanding interest in cancer cachexia and therapeutic interventions to ameliorate the effects of cancer on host physiology.
Marie T Fallon
St Columba's Hospice Chair of Palliative Medicine, University of Edinburgh.
Consultant Edinburgh Cancer Centre
Professor Fallon leads the Edinburgh Palliative and Supportive Care group and is a world leader in palliative care research. Her multidisciplinary groups key theme is to improve the care of patients living with life limiting illness.
Iain Gallagher
Associate Professor, School of Applied Sciences,
Napier University
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 and now Napier University.
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
Iain D Phillips
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.
iain.phillips@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
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.
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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Michael Yule
Medical Research Fellow, St Columba's Hospice Care and Specialty Trainee in General Surgery, South-East Scotland.
Michael is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Edinburgh with Mr Skipworth and Professor Laird. The focus of this thesis is on the detection and characterisation of cancer cachexia. He is also working on the REVOLUTION trial.
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.
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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Amy Mcluskie
Clinical Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh.
Amy is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Edinburgh supervised by Professor Laird and Professor Fallon. She is also working to set up the INSPIRE trial, which is a multinational phase III RCT looking at the cost effectiveness of palliative rehabilitation on disability, symptom burden and quality of life in patients with advanced cancer. She previously worked as an advanced specialist community dietician.
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.
Peter Hall
Professor in Cancer Informatics and Health Economics, Consultant Medical Oncologist, University of Edinburgh
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.