CAPE is a knowledge exchange and research initiative funded by Research England that brings together five academic institutions (the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester, Northumbria and Nottingham, and University College London) and policy partners, including the Parliamentary Office for Science & Technology (POST).
The purpose of CAPE is to support effective and sustained engagement between academics and policy professionals. The CAPE Policy Fellowship programme is intended to foster collaboration between the two sectors and support the development of evidence-informed policy, as well as career development for the policy fellows themselves.
Philippa will be examining policy issues arising from developments in precision medicine, especially how the increasing use of tumour-agnostic approaches could impact health services, health professionals, patients and the wider public, through discussion with a range of academics from participating universities.
Tumour agnostic tests are used across a wide range of cancer types to identify specific genetic changes that may drive cancer growth. In some cases, new treatments that can target such changes and be used against cancers in different parts of the body are now available. This approach could also have implications for how new cancer treatments are tested in clinical trials, as well as how we think and talk about cancer treatment more generally.
Philippa commented: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to understand better the pressing policy issues that this fast-moving area of cancer research may present, through the insights of some of the UK’s leading experts, and I’m grateful to the CAPE initiative for their support.”
PHG Foundation Director Dr Mark Kroese said: “I would like to congratulate Pippa on the award of her CAPE Fellowship. We are very pleased that the CAPE programme is supporting the Foundation in its efforts to improve the understanding of the wider implications of this important area of personalised cancer medicine.”