Pancreatic cancer – the future: 2023 London Clinic lecture

Mr Krishna Menon is a Consultant Liver Transplant and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgeon at the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London and Lead for Liver Transplant Surgery at King’s College Hospital. He is the President of the Great Britain Chapter of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (The Great Britain and Ireland Hepato Pancreato Biliary Association). He is also currently the Vice-President and President-Elect of the British Transplantation Society. Krishna has a major clinical interest is in liver transplantation and laparoscopic liver and pancreatic resections and research interests are in pancreatic cancer, clinical trials and development of novel technology in cancer and laparoscopic surgery. He has published 125 peer reviewed publications and over 300 presentations at National and International meetings.

Professor Hemant Kocher is a surgeon-scientist practising in London in the field of hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgery having trained in Bombay, India as well as United Kingdom and held visiting posts in Europe and the USA.

Professor Kocher's laboratory has pioneered the evaluation of tumour-stroma interaction in pancreatic cancer linking patho-physiology of cancer with molecular mechanisms which underpin its aggressiveness. This has led to discovery of novel biomarkers for diagnosing and predicting disease patterns as well as therapeutic areas which are being explored in human clinical trials. It is the first laboratory to target desmoplastic cellular stroma demonstrating the possibility of co-targeting in cancer therapy.

Professor Kocher also leads national bio-banking efforts which along with state-of-the-art health-informatics and bio-informatics. Hemant hopes to change our understanding of disease processes.

Professor Kocher has trained a number of clinical and non-clinical post-graduate students.

Dr Shivan Sivakumar is a Consultant in gastrointestinal medical oncology with a specialist interest in pancreatic and liver tumours at the University of Oxford. He completed his medical degree at Barts and the London school of medicine. He completed his junior doctor training in Leeds, Wales and Oxford. He has a Phd in Biochemistry from St. John’s, University of Cambridge and subsequently completed post-doctoral training in immunology at the University of Oxford.