Keith Hunter

Keith Hunter

Professor of Head and neck Pathology/honorary Consultant Histopathologist

I am Professor of Head and Neck Pathology and a Clinical Academic Histopathologist in Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine at the University of Liverpool, UK and Liverpool Universities NHS Foundation Trust, Working in the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre.  I completed my PhD at the CRUK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research (Glasgow) and clinical training at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.  I moved to the University of Sheffield in 2009 where I established a research group focussing on the transcriptional changes seen in the various stages in the development of oral precancer and cancer with a particular interest in the control of cellular immortalization of keratinocytes and aspects of the tumour microenvironment.  I moved to the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre in 2022.

I am the author of over 120 peer reviewed articles and have also contributed to several books, including the 2022 WHO Classification of Tumours of the Head and Neck, and am a co-author of the 5th edition of Soames and Southam’s Oral Pathology.

My lab focusses on the tumour microenvironment in cancers of the head and neck, mainly investigating cancers of the oral cavity and oropharynx.  This includes the clinical pathology and biology of Potentially Malignant Disorders of the oral cavity, with wide collaborations and links to Industry in this area.