Lecture
The Magdalene Medical Society Lecture 2027
We are delighted to invite current students, academics, alumni, and their guests to the Magdalene Medical Society Lecture.
We are honoured that the speaker on this occasion will be Professor Ian Kunkler (1970), M.B.B.Chir, FRCPE, FRCR, Institute of Cancer Genetics, University of Edinburgh, on the subject of 'De-escalating adjuvant radiotherapy in early breast cancer: is less more?'
Radiotherapy with surgery and systemic therapy are the core treatments in the multidisciplinary treatment of early breast cancer. With breast screening and advances in diagnostic imaging and pathology, they have led to a dramatic fall in UK breast cancer mortality. Now around 70% of patients can be treated with breast conserving surgery (BCS) and only around one third requiring mastectomy. Historically virtually all patients underwent postoperative radiotherapy after BCS and most with node positive disease after mastectomy. Over the last two decades randomised trials have shown that postoperative radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery and mastectomy with appropriate systemic therapy can be selectively omitted. Other trials of selective radiotherapy de-escalation are ongoing. Shorter courses of radiotherapy have proved as effective and more convenient to patients but with lower acute and late morbidity. There has been a paradigm shift in loco-regional radiotherapy from an anatomy based approach to a biologically informed and adapted one. Response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy can guide the need for adjuvant irradiation. Identifying biomarkers which predict individual benefit from irradiation is an active field of investigation but none is yet sufficiently validated for routine use in the clinic.
Programme
- Date: Saturday 6 February 2027
- Time: 4.00-5.00pm: The Humphrey Cripps Auditorium, Cripps Court, Magdalene College. Doors will open at 3.45pm, with the lecture to start a 4.00pm prompt.
- Cost: Free
Booking
So that we have an idea of numbers we are asking attendees to register. To do so, please register online here.
Should you have any questions or problems, please contact alumni@magd.cam.ac.uk.
Professor Ian Kunkler (1970), M.B.B.Chir, FRCPE, FRCR Professor Kunkler is Consultant in Clinical Oncology at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, University of Edinburgh. His research interests are in adjuvant trials of radiotherapy for breast cancer, the development of biosensors in cancer management and the application of telemedicine in cancer care. Professor Kunkler was included in the TIME100 Health List 2026 for his study into outcomes from radiotherapy use in early breast cancer treatment. He is Chief Investigator of the BIG 2-04 MRC/EORTC SUPREMO trial, the PRIME 2 trial and Principal Investigator at Edinburgh University in the European FP7 large scale integrating project (METOXIA) on translating the hypoxic microenvironment. He has edited two editions of Walter and Miller’s Textbook of Radiotherapy and published over 100 articles. He is also a past President of the British Oncological Association.
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Alumni Events Contact
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Alumni Events Team
Mrs Emma Tunbridge-Hibbert
Miss Sarah Rodwell