Our Team

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Expert in head and neck surgery and reconstructive surgery, as well as in oncology of the head and neck and in otolaryngology, Christian Simon has been appointed full professor at UNIL and head of the Otolaryngology Department. -laryngology (ENT) of the CHUV from February 1, 2012.

Born in 1969 in Würzburg (Germany), Christian Simon studied at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany) and graduated in 1996. He then held a postdoctoral research position for two years, funded by the German Research Council, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Department of Tumor Biology, where he is interested in the mechanisms of cancer cell invasion and metastasis formation. Returning to Germany in 1998, he completed his internship at the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Tübingen, under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Peter Zenner. After obtaining his FMH title in ENT in 2002, he returned to the United States as a Clinical Fellow and Junior Faculty for two years. There he trained for a year in head and neck ablative surgery at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, then in head and neck reconstructive surgery at Washington University in St. Louis.

Christian Simon returned to Germany in 2004 to take up the post of Assistant Professor and Consultant Surgeon in the Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Heidelberg. He represents his Department on the Expert Committee of the National Cancer Center (NCT) Heidelberg, where he is also head of head and neck oncology. He has also been appointed head of the Molecular Oncology Laboratory since 2005. In 2008, he flew to the United States as part of a one-year clinical research grant, in order to complete his training in the field of otology, neuro-otology and skull base surgery at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (USA). In 2009, he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology headed by Prof. Peter Karl Plinkert, at the University of Heidelberg.

Benefiting from a very complete training in the ENT field, Christian Simon has followed numerous clinical training courses, particularly in the fields of head and neck ablative surgery, head and neck reconstructive surgery and otology / neuro-otology. In head and neck reconstructive surgery, he has specific expertise in free microvascular tissue transfer, as well as in transoral endoscopic surgery techniques. He also has very wide skills in otological surgery.

In terms of research, Christian Simon has been working since 1996 on understanding the biological mechanisms leading to invasion by cancer cells and the formation of metastases. He particularly focuses on the signal transduction pathways involved in these processes. He is also interested in the influence of human papillomavirus infections on the development of ENT tumors. His work has been the subject of numerous publications in high impact factor journals. The researcher is currently trying to further elucidate these mechanisms and how they contribute to the clinical phenotype leading to recurrence. He also wishes to develop animal models which will help in deciphering such mechanisms.

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Heather Starmer is a Clinical Professor and Director of the Head and Neck Cancer Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation Center. She is a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders. in 2023 she was awarded the prestigious Fellow designation by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA).

Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford University, Professor Starmer served as the lead of the head and neck cancer rehabilitation program at Johns Hopkins University.
She has pursued doctoral studies at the University of Liverpool with completion of her PhD in Applied Health Research in 2024. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the assessment of head and neck lymphedema with a particular emphasis on the patient experience and quality of life.

Professor Starmer specialises in the rehabilitation of speech, voice, and swallowing in patients with head and neck cancer. She has particular interest in prevention of communication and swallowing disorders associated with radiation and chemotherapy. She has a strong interest in head and neck cancer survivorship and helping patients to accomplish their personal goals and to optimize their quality of life long term.

Professor Starmer's academic goals include improving communication and swallowing outcomes following a diagnosis of head and neck cancer through clinical research. She was a key member of a collaborative research group at Johns Hopkins resulting in multiple publications and presentations on strategies to minimize speech and swallowing difficulties. Recent advances in pain management during radiation therapy developed by this research collaborative have already shown great promise in protecting patients from potential swallowing difficulties during and after their cancer treatment. She works closely with colleagues in surgery, radiation oncology, and medical oncology to tackle the often difficult problems encountered by patients with head and neck cancer. She has particular interest in investigating the role of innovative surgical techniques such as Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) in minimizing long term functional deficits. She regularly collaborates with colleagues around the globe to develop innovative solutions to challenges encountered by head and neck care teams and the patients they serve.

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Kevin Harrington is an NIHR Senior Investigator and Head of the Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)/Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH). He is the RMH/ICR NIHR Biomedical Research Centre lead for the Targeted Physical Therapies theme, Director for the ICR/RM CRUK RadNet Centre of Excellence, Chair of the CRUK Advanced Radiotherapy Network (ART-NET) Network Accelerator, Chair of the ICR Wellcome Trust Clinical Training Programme and an Executive Board member for the CRUK ICR/Imperial Major Centre for Convergence Science. He is also an Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and at St George’s Hospital, specialising in developing new treatments with a specific focus on head and neck cancer (HNC).

His research interests include immunotherapy, targeted radiation sensitisers and oncolytic virotherapy. In the field of immunotherapy for cancer, he has been involved in the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4, TIGIT, CD47 inhibitors) and innate immune activators (eg cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) and non-CDN STING agonists). He serves on Steering Committees and Scientific Advisory Boards that have guided the development of trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors in head and neck cancer (including Keynote-040, -048, -412, -689, CheckMate-141, -651, 714, Kestrel, Javelin-100). He has been Principal Investigator of multiple phase I, II and III studies of novel agents in HNC. He leads a programme of pre-clinical and clinical research in targeted radiosensitisers (Chk1i, HSP90i, ATRi), including the first-in-man phase I PATRIOT study of the ATR inhibitor, AZD6738. This work focuses largely on the potential immunological effects of combinations of DNA damage response inhibition and radiation. In oncolytic virotherapy, he has led in developing DNA (HSV [talimogene laherparepvec, RP1, RP2 and RP3 viruses] and vaccinia virus) and RNA viruses (Reovirus type 3 Dearing, coxsackievirus A21, Maraba and Newcastle Disease virus).

His expertise has been recognized in membership of multiple national and international practice-defining guideline committees: British Association of Head and Neck Oncology (BAHNO), UK National Multidisciplinary guidelines (2011, 2015); Chair, UK Head and Neck Mucosal Melanoma Group (2018-2020); International Nasopharynx Cancer guidelines (2018, 2019, 2020); Human Intratumoural Immunotherapy (HIT-IT) (2018); Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) HNC guidelines (2019); Intratumoural RECIST Guideline Group (2019-2020); ASTRO/ESTRO guideline group to define risk-adapted radiotherapy in COVID patients with HNC (2020); founding Steering Committee member of the ESMO Co-CARE Registry.

He received the 2019 BAHNO President’s Achievement Award and was the 2021 Semon Lecturer (Royal Society of Medicine). He is serving as a member of Unit of Assessment 1 for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 exercise.

Prof. Harrington has published >560 peer-reviewed publications and >50 book chapters.

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Mike joined Teesside University in November 2023 after a long career in the North-East NHS, leading groups that specialise in physiological measurement and in medical device development, regulation and assessment.

Mike’s academic activities have been linked with his NHS role in developing novel med-tech, and also with the training of healthcare professionals, notably through the UK's Scientist Training Programme (STP).

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Professor Shaw has been an honorary Consultant at Aintree and the Dental Hospital since 2007, and prior to that trained in surgery in Glasgow and Liverpool, undertaking a H&N surgery fellowship. He has an academic interest in research and teaching (see the relevant pages of LHNC) and is president elect of the International Academy of Oral Oncology (IAOO).

He has significant experience in H&N reconstruction and in particular oral cavity cancers. He has a research and clinical interest in premalignant lesions, sentinel node biopsy and late effects of radiotherapy including osteoradionecrosis.

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Ruud H. Brakenhoff, PhD is molecular biologist and chairs the Head and Neck Cancer Biology and Immunology (HNCBI) laboratory at the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery within Cancer Center Amsterdam of Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands. He studied medicine and was graduated at the Radboud University Nijmegen. The same university awarded him in 1992 the PhD title.

From 1992 his research interest focused on the molecular pathogenesis of cancer, and he was appointed in 2005 as professor of head and neck cancer genomics. Current research questions are ultimately focused on the improvement of diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancer, and there is a close interaction with the clinic.

Running projects relate to:

1. Oncogenesis and genomics

2. Molecular diagnosis and early detection

3. Tumor-stroma interaction

4. Development and evaluation of novel treatments

He has (co)authored over 200 peer reviewed papers, and introduced models of head and neck carcinogenesis in the literature.

His main interest is in fundamental and translational research, studying head and neck cancer in models as well as human patients, and bringing new molecular findings to the clinic. Sentinel node biopsy and testing for HPV have been brought from bench to bedside, and are implemented in care.