Professor Mererid Evans
Director of Wales Cancer Research Centre
Health and Care Research funding award:
Award: NHS Research Time Award (July 2019 - June 2022)
Project title: To develop Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy (SABR) in Wales
Professor Mererid Evans is Director of Wales Cancer Research Centre (WCRC), Clinical Professor at the Division of Cancer and Genetics, Cardiff University, and Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Velindre University NHS Trust, specialising in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer. As Director of the WCRC she oversees a circa £1 million annual investment from Health and Care Research Wales in cancer research in Wales, and is, with colleagues from the WCRC and other infrastructures in Wales, leading the implementation of the all Wales Cancer Research Strategy (CReSt) launched in 2022.
A graduate of the University of Wales College of Medicine, she received a PhD in 2001 for her research into immune responses to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in patients with cervical cancer. She is currently Chief Investigator of PATHOS, a CRUK-funded multi-centre, international, randomised controlled clinical trial aiming to develop kinder treatment for patients with HPV related head and neck cancer. She is also Chief Investigator of PEARL, a UK multi-centre clinical trial of PET-based adaptive radiotherapy for the treatment of HPV related head and neck cancer.
She has developed national and international links through her research and co-leads a number of research projects at the University of Liverpool, from which she was awarded an Honorary Visiting Professorship in 2016. In 2019 Professor Evans was appointed Deputy Chair of the National Cancer Research Institute’s Radiotherapy Research Group, CTRad, coordinating and setting the strategic direction for UK radiotherapy research. She is currently an Associate Cancer Theme Lead at Cardiff University and is Clinical Strategic Lead for the Velindre Cancer Research Ambitions 2021-31.
In the news:
New roadmap unveiled to boost cancer research for patients across Wales (July 2022)