The Christie Charity
Fiona Blackhall
Name
Fiona Blackhall
Job title
Professor of Thoracic Oncology and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology
Email Address
linda.scott23@nhs.net
Phone number
0161 446 3745
Qualifications
BSc, MBChB, FRCP, PhD, CCST
Specialities
Medical oncology, Lung
Started at The Christie (Year)
2005
Responsibilities
- Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence Clinical Trials Theme Lead; lead Optimising Lung Cytology and Molecular Pathology in Collaboration (OLYMPIC); Lung Disease Group Chair; site lead for lung cancer clinical trials team and translational research; clinical co-lead Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre network; clinical appraiser.
- Clinical Senior Lecturer at Manchester University; Steering committee member of The British Thoracic Oncology Group; Translational sub group Co-chair of The European Thoracic Oncology Platform; Member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, The European Society of Medical Oncology and The American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Professional biography
Dr Blackhall was educated at St Andrews and Manchester Universities. She began Medical Oncology training at The Christie in 1995 and was awarded a four-year Cancer Research Campaign Research PhD Fellowship for a Clinician in 1997 at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester.
Following her PhD she undertook a postdoctoral and clinical fellowship in the field of lung cancer and translational research at Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto and Ontario Cancer Institute, Canada. She returned to the UK in 2003 to complete higher specialist training in oncology and was appointed to consultant at The Christie in 2005.
Dr Blackhall then established translational research in lung cancer in collaboration with Professor Caroline Dive (CRUK-Manchester Institute). In 2011 this work was recognised with award of the CRUK translational research prize, and in 2012 Dr Blackhall was awarded Christie Hospital Senior Researcher of the year.
Since 2005 she has led a clinical trials portfolio of more than 80 phase I-III trials and has been involved in a number of practice-changing studies delivering promising new drugs and treatment regimens to patients.
Dr Blackhall is the clinical lead for lung cancer at The Christie and Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) lung cancer research strategy lead. She is also the Clinical Trials Theme Lead for the recently established Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence which is a recognised research partnership between the University of Manchester and University College London.
Dr Blackhall's overall objective is to contribute clinically relevant lung cancer research to improve outcomes for lung cancer.
Research Interest
Research into new treatments and clinical trials for patients with lung cancer; identification of new molecular targets in lung cancer and the development of personalised medicine; uncovering biomarkers circulating in the blood stream to diagnose or monitor a patient’s disease without requiring invasive biopsy techniques.