JING Alumni interview: Patricia Roxburgh, Glasgow ECMC

This month we spoke to Dr Patricia Roxburgh as part of our series of interview with JING alumni. Tricia is a medical oncologist in the University of Glasgow and the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. She attended the JING event in 2013 and was also a member of the JING steering committee. Tricia shares her thoughts on her involvement in JING.

 

Can you give us a brief summary of your career?

I am a medical oncologist working in the University of Glasgow and the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. I specialise in ovarian cancer, development of novel cancer therapies, precision oncology and ovarian cancer translation research.

I completed undergraduate medical training at the University of Glasgow in 2003 and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 2006. I trained in medical oncology in the West of Scotland Medical Oncology training programme and gained certificate of completion of training in 2015. During medical oncology training, I was awarded a Cancer Research UK Clinical Training Fellowship at the Beatson Institute of Cancer Research, where I completed my PhD studies investigating strategies to manipulate the TP53 pathway for cancer therapy.

In 2015 I travelled to New York to undertake a 1-year fellowship as a clinical scientist in the Roche Translational and Clinical Research Centre. On return, I was appointed as senior lecturer in medical oncology at University of Glasgow and am now Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine.

I am presently principal investigator for several early-phase and ovarian cancer clinical trials and chief investigator for a multi-centre sample collection study to learn more about the development of resistance of PARP inhibitors in patients with ovarian cancer. I am also chair of the IMAGINE Molecular tumour board, precision lead for Glasgow Experimental Cancer Medicines Centre and Lead Clinician for cancer genetics in the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine.

 

You attended the JING: TNG event in 2013, what was your highlight of the day?

The 2013 event was the initial pilot JING event and only a 1-day meeting. It was the first time I felt part of a community of clinicians and researchers who were all working towards improving treatment of cancer. It was so valuable to benefit from advice from experienced researchers and connect with colleagues at a similar stage across the UK.

 

You were on the JING steering committee, what did you gain from that experience?

After the initial JING pilot event, I was on the inaugural JING committee who developed the 2-day meeting that is now established. I then returned to the committee following maternity leave and it was lovely to see how the meeting had grown further and appreciate the number of trainees that had benefitted from JING and importantly developed careers in cancer therapy drug development.

 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career so far?

I have had lots of really helpful advice from people across the cancer research community, who have taken time out of very busy schedules to help. It is much appreciated! The most helpful advice was that we should try to expose yourself to a wide variety of areas so that you can figure out what activities you find most enjoyable and then try to focus and those things. There is no end to the number of unanswered research questions but if you can really have fun at work your chances of maintaining your career and making progress for cancer patients is much better.

 

What advice would you give to the 2024 JING Cohort?

What advice would you give to the 2024 JING Cohort? Gather lots of opinions from the experienced researchers that JING can connect you with and build your own community by getting to know your colleagues across the UK.