Employing Trust: University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Department: Cancer Sciences Academic Unit
Commencement Dates: August, December, or April
Surgery SFP programme lead: Professor R.I. Cutress
Email: r.i.cutress@soton.ac.uk
Tel: 023 8120 6145
Research Supervisors: Ramsey Cutress (Breast surgery), John Primrose (HPB and Liver), Alex Mirnezami and Malcolm West (Colorectal), Tim Underwood (Upper GI), Karen Nugent (Colorectal), Emma Barker (Head and Neck), Nigel Hall (Paediatrics)
Administrative Contact:
Aaron Le Marquand
Email: A.D.Le-Marquand@soton.ac.uk
Miss Marie Marshall
Email: m.e.marshall@soton.ac.uk
For general information on Cancer Sciences division see:
www.som.soton.ac.uk/research/cancersciences/
Main Educational Opportunities:
Academic trainees will meet with the programme lead and their academic supervisor during their F1 year to discuss the specialties and research opportunities available to them and will select a project/specialty in which to conduct his/her academic training.
Surgical Oncology
(i) Cancer surgery:
Experience of outpatient management of complex problems.
Operative surgery; participation in MDT discussion of management.
Participation in surgical and oncology outpatient clinics. (ii)
General Surgery:
Regular on call for emergency admissions – assessment and operative management.
Surgical Oncology:
Multidisciplinary management of cancer including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and experimental treatments.
Research experience (laboratory or clinical):
Wide range of opportunities in clinical trials, health services research and laboratory based research within the Cancer Sciences Division laboratories. Care of patients participating in clinical trials of cancer therapy ranging from first time in man to large phase III studies (approx 500 patients per annum in Southampton).
- Direct involvement in research activities:
- Writing a clinical research protocol
- GCP and Research Governance issues
- Participation in an established research project
- Writing up results for publication
Clinical research projects: design, set-up (COREC, R&D, Peer review), training in ICH-GCP.
Laboratory research projects: Immunology, Cell Biology, Pathology. Projects within existing laboratory programmes in Cancer Sciences.
Exposure to the extensive evidence base in oncology, with the opportunity to undertake systematic reviews for specific topics.
Formal Teaching Programmes – Surgery:
- Weekly surgical topic teaching and audit
- Weekly MDT as below
- Weekly teaching ward round
- Regular research meetings.
- MDT meetings for all tumour types weekly (Breast, Colorectal, Upper Gl, HPB, Lung, Urology, Lymphoma, Gynae)
- Monthly protocol peer review (Tuesday pm)
- Weekly Cancer Sciences seminars (Wednesday pm)
Generic research skills training provided for Specialist Foundation Doctors at Southampton General Hospital (10 half day sessions). This course will enable F1 trainees:
- To gain an overview of the scope of clinical research
- To learn about research methods and their appropriate application
- To learn about sources of knowledge and knowledge management
- To learn how to form research questions
- To learn how to critically appraise research
- To master elementary statistics and understand their application to research
- To understand the sources of funding for research and financial management of research
- To understand the ethics of research , consent and confidentiality
- To understand how research is regulated and governed
Between sessions participants will be expected to develop their own research projects involving the:
- Generation of research questions
- Design of research protocols
- Financial aspects of research
- Navigation through ethics and the regulation of research
At the end of the Summer year 2 SFP Doctors present their projects to supervisors and SFP year 1 Doctors providing an overview of their results and achievements.
Academic competencies:
By the end of the attachment the F2 doctor should have done some or all of the following:
- Undertaken a (systematic) literature review for at least one clinical scenario
- Undertaken a peer review for at least one clinical trial protocol or publication
- Presented at least one paper to a journal club
- Presented a paper at a National/International meeting
- Written a paper for publication
- Attended weekly laboratory meetings if undertaking a laboratory project
- Written at least one ethics committee submission and attended the ethics committee meeting
- Gained firsthand experience of the process of informed consent, trial entry, treatment and record keeping in accordance with ICH-GCP
- Gained firsthand experience of laboratory research methods in the relevant area.
Timetable:
This will be flexible according to the lab meetings and MDT meetings to be attended. The following are examples only. Most AF2 appointees would have an individualised programme, the emphasis of the 4 month being in research.
Surgical Oncology
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| a.m. | Surgical teaching | Clinic | MDT meeting | Research time | SFP Teaching programme and Research time |
| p.m. | Research Time | Research time | Clinic | Research time | Research time |
Out of hours/ On call:
Hours Worked: The post is zero banded. However commonly extra duties are offered out of hours on a rota basis. At present this cover can be in Surgical HDU or ASU.
Planned Changes: None planned:
Further information:
Please see the Cancer Sciences academic unit web page at:
www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/academic units/academic units/cancer sciences.page