Our Team

Dr. Caroline McCarthy has been appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Oral Medicine, within the School of Dentistry and Liverpool University Dental Hospital. She has been based in Liverpool since 2012, as a clinical academic trainee in Oral Medicine, following undergraduate and core training posts in Sheffield and Leeds. She is a member of the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre and has a research focus on oral premalignant disease.  Her PhD was completed with Professor John Field and Dr Laura Bonnett, in risk prediction modelling in Head and Neck Cancer.  She held a personal fellowship with the Royal College of Surgeons in 2019 and has since secured further personal funding from the Academy of Medical Sciences, and joint funding from CRUK, NIHR and Innovate UK, working closely with Professor Richard Shaw.  She is working with industry collaborators, LightOx, to develop a novel topical treatment for patients with oral dysplastic lesions, with the aim of preventing cancer development, with phase I trials anticipated within 2-3 years.  Dr. McCarthy is actively engaged in interdisciplinary collaborations, collaborating with colleagues in the Department of Physics to pioneer a prognostic device for patients with oral dysplasia, aiming to revolutionise patient pathways.  She has a developing interest in early phase clinical trials and is principal investigator for the SAVER trial (phase II chemoprevention trial) at Liverpool University Dental Hospital.  She is a member of the Leukoplakia group for the World Workshop in Oral Medicine which will result in the development of a Core Outcome Set for Leukoplakia clinical trials.Dr. McCarthy is delighted to begin this role within the School of Dentistry and continue to work with colleagues in the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre to inspire the next generation of talent in the field of oral premalignancy research, drive forward early phase clinical trials in this area and foster relations with industry partners.

Contact carolmc2@liverpool.ac.uk

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Catriona joined the University of Sheffield in 2018 after obtaining a Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) ‘CONNECTS’ Senior Clinical Research Fellowship. She is also an Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Catriona was awarded my Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of Liverpool in 2010. Her MD evaluated quality of care for dying patients and their families (last days of life) as perceived by bereaved relatives. From this work, she developed and validated the international ‘Care Of the Dying Evaluation’ (CODETM) tool.

Catriona’s belief that palliative care should help address injustices and inequities drives her research interests. These include complex cancer groups e.g., head and neck cancer, mesothelioma, and improving access and integration of palliative care, including bereavement support, through inclusive methodology.

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Dr Ibrahim completed his undergraduate training in Egypt and MSc in oncology before moving to the UK to undertake specialist training. He completed duel training in palliative medicine and clinical oncology in North Western Deanery.  He joined the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in 2019.  He is active member of undergraduate committee of Royal College of Radiologists aiming to enhance engagement of medical student with oncology training and education. He supervises medical and student and clinical oncology trainees during their training rotation. He is active member of Lung and Head & Neck Cancers treating and active recruiting to observational and intervention clinical trials.

I received my degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford (1993) then undertook a PhD at King's College, London (2001) at the Randall Institute for Cell and Molecular Biophysics and Celltech (now UCB). My thesis was entitled "Structure and Function of Human CD23, the low affinity IgE receptor" which is involved in regulating allergic responses and inflammation pathways with Prof Hannah Gould, Dr Ray Owens and Prof Brian Sutton. I was a Visiting Fellow then subsequently a Research Fellow at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland USA until 2009 in the laboratory of Dr Martin Gellert investigating the protein-DNA complexes in V(D)J recombination. Together with Dr Santiago Ramon Maiques and Dr Wei Yang, we obtained the first structure of the recombinase essential to development of antigen receptors in the immune system. I returned to the UK as a senior post-doctoral scientist in the laboratory of Prof Keith Caldecott at the Genome Damage and Stability Centre at the University of Sussex. There, I focussed my interests to proteins involved in DNA damage response and DNA repair discovering a common interaction motif for proteins involved in non-homologous end joining and the function of PARP3 in recognising damage to chromatin.

I was awarded a North West Cancer Research Career Development Fellowship in 2019 at the University of Liverpool, mentored by Dr Jason Parsons. As part of the Head and Neck Cancer Research Group, I am investigating methods to improve the radio-sensitivity of head and neck cancer cell by targeting proteins involved DNA repair pathways.

Gemma is an academic clinical psychologist who combines a clinical role (psycho-oncology) at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital with a substantive post as a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool.

As well as working on the doctoral training programme helping to train clinical psychologists, she conducts research designed to improve the experiences of patients with physical health difficulties (particularly cancer). Her research focuses on understanding why some people experience psychological distress after a diagnosis of cancer or physical health difficulty, and on developing and testing interventions to reduce psychological distress in this context. She also has an interest in clinical decision-making and clinical communication, and lead several studies focused on improving these aspects of care. I work closely with the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre on a range of studies, including:

• an NIHR-funded trial (the ACTIOHN study) examining the feasibility of a tailored exercise programme for patients with head and neck cancer (qualitative lead)

• studies designed to improve swallowing and lymphoedema outcomes for patients (including leading the qualitative aspect of feasibility studies and co-supervising the development and validation of a lymphoedema quality of life scale)

• studies examining treatment decision-making for older adults with advanced cancer and their carers  

I am passionate about improving the experiences and well-being of those affected by cancer in our region and am also working closely with the LHNC team to progress grant applications to this end.

Dr Hannah Doughty is a mixed methods researcher who is currently working as a Lecturer in Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. She holds a First-Class Honours (BSc) degree in Applied Psychology awarded by LJMU in 2015 and a PhD in Health Psychology, awarded by the University of Liverpool in 2024. Her PhD applied behaviour change theory to explore the barriers to, and facilitators of, physical activity promotion and participation for people living with and beyond head and neck cancer. For over a decade, she has worked across academic and NHS settings including The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in health-related research, with a strong focus on improving the quality of life for people affected by head and neck cancer. She is an active member of the Research Centre in Brain and Behaviour and the Institute for Health Research at LJMU, where she Co-Leads the Cancer Specialist Interest Group.

Hannah’s research interests are focussed on improving the quality of life of individuals living with and beyond cancer and other long-term conditions. She applies behavioural science to understand and address unmet needs, particularly in underserved cancer cohorts. Her interests include:

• The psychological impact of cancer

• Health-related behaviour change

• Palliative and supportive care needs in head and neck cancer

• Patient and public involvement in health research

• Patient-centred care, service design and delivery

• The use of qualitative methods to inform the design and delivery of clinical services and trials.

She has led research focused on improving psychological wellbeing, quality of life and physical activity engagement for those living with and beyond head and neck cancer, and she has contributed to work exploring the palliative care needs of people with advanced head and neck cancer. In addition, she has co-designed a book exploring patient experiences of radiotherapy for gynaecological cancer, which was shortlisted for the Excellence in Research Award by North West Cancer Research.

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