WCRF International Grant panel member

Professor Will STEWARD, MBChB, PhD, FRCP  (Glasgow), FRCP (C) (Canada), FRCP (London)
Head of Department
Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine
University of Leicester
Leicester, UK

Professor Steward is currently Head of the University Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine and Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Leicester; he is also Vice Dean of College of Medicine at the University of Leicester.  Clinical areas of interest are treatment of colorectal and hepatobiliary cancers.  He is Chair of the NRCI (Northeast Regional Cancer Institute) Colorectal Clinical Studies Group.  He has published over 250 peer reviewed papers and several book chapters.

His main research interests involve the clinical evaluation of novel therapies which may reduce cancer incidence or treat advanced disease.  His work has involved early clinical trials with biological agents and inhibitors of angiogenesis, but an increasing focus has been on cancer preventive agents.  His background was with the New Drug Development units at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow and as Co-Director of New Drug Development at the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Professor Steward’s major current focus of research is at the preclinical and clinical end of the translational spectrum of development of cancer chemopreventive drugs.  The focus has been on evaluating diet-derived agents, including the curry constituent, curcumin, and the derivative of grapes and several other fruits, resveratrol.  These agents have important potential in reducing cancer risk and are being evaluated in the group both in the laboratory and, increasingly, in humans.