News
Dr Miranda Pring is the new chief investigator for Head and Neck 5000
Dr Miranda Pring has taken on the role of study chief investigator following the retirement of Professor Andy Ness. Miranda is a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Oral Maxillofacial Pathology, she has worked on Head and Neck 5000 since the start and is well placed to take on the Chief Investigator role.
Professor Andy Ness has retired
Professor Andy Ness led the Head and Neck 5000 study from the very beginning over 10 years ago. It was his energy and vision that created the study. We would like to thank Andy for his incredible work over the years; he will be greatly missed by all of the Head and Neck 5000 team. Enjoy your well-earned retirement Andy!
Chris Lippiatt has retired
Chris has been a data coordinator on the Head and Neck 5000 study since 2013. She worked tirelessly for the study sending out countless questionnaires, and sorting out our tissue blocks and slides. We are going to miss Chris very much but we know that she will enjoy life in the Devonshire countryside. Happy retirement Chris!
Christine Wood is retiring
Christine has been our study coordinator on Head and Neck 5000 since the very beginning and we are all going to miss her very much. We would like to thank Christine for all of her hard work on the study, and wish her a very happy, well deserved retirement. Enjoy your retirement Christine!
Paper published on changes and predictors of patient reported swallowing
A paper led by Professor Jo Patterson in Liverpool used head and neck 5000 to examine changes and predictors of patient reported swallowing. The analysis confirmed findings from smaller studies that swallowing and social eating deteriorates following treatment, with some improvement at one year, and that tumour site and treatment type are important predictors of outcome. Several factors not previously considered in the literature such as age, living circumstance, gender, smoking and socio-economic status were also found to be independently associated with self-reported swallowing. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1368837521001676
Paper published on the impact of HPV status
In a paper led by Alex Whitmarsh arising from our collaboration with colleagues at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) we examined the impact of HPV status on survival in people with oropharyngeal cancer. We found that HPV status confers a survival advantage across all groups. Furthermore, this survival advantage is more marked in younger people with oropharyngeal cancer but the survival advantage does not vary by gender, smoking status or site. We also found that the HPV antibody pattern, but not the antibody level, may also affect survival. The paper has been published in Cancer. (Epub ahead of print).
HEADSpAcE and VOYAGER meetings
We attended two virtual annual half day meetings for our ongoing HEADSpAcE and VOYAGER projects and a half day combined scientific meeting on the week beginning the 8th March. The meetings were well attended and it was great to catch up with colleagues and discuss progress (albeit on line). Hopefully face to face meetings will be possible in the not too distant future.
Paper on inequality in survival of people with head and neck cancer has been published
Kate Ingarfield, who used to work as the Head & Neck 5000 study statistician, has led on a paper looking at survival and socioeconomic status in head and neck cancer. The results support interventions to address financial issues within the wider care and support provided to head and neck cancer patients.
The paper has been published in the Head and Neck journal online ahead of print. Inequality in survival of people with head and neck cancer: Head and Neck 5000 cohort study Head and Neck 2021 Jan 8. doi: 10.1002/hed.26589.
