David Church

Cancer doctor and scientist

I trained in medicine in Sheffield and became interested in cancer medicine as an undergraduate. After graduating and spending a couple of years in general medicine I entered specialised training  in Medical Oncology (cancer medicine) in Bristol and moved to Oxford to do a DPhil (PhD) in 2007. This really cemented my ambition to stay in research and I’ve done so ever since. My group works on bowel and womb cancer and we’re particularly interested in the mechanism by which cancers stimulate immune attack and sadly in many cases, avoid this. As part of this work I have led a programme to explore vaccination as a strategy to prevent cancer in people with a high risk of the disease due to a condition called Lynch syndrome. This has led me to speak at many public events over the last couple of years, and the interest the programme has generated has been hugely motivating for the team.