Our vision

We aim to achieve a seamless integration between University of Manchester and NHS staff, all dedicated to improving the care for children and young people with cancer in both Manchester and the UK.

We believe that the key to achieving this is the promotion of enquiry in all areas of the care of children and young people with cancer. From the genetic basis of cancer, and its environmental causes, through to the understanding of treatment resistance and the development of novel therapeutic approaches, to research to improve service provision for these patients.

The majority of our academic staff are also practising clinicians, and thus have a clear view of the day-to-day challenges that are involved in the treatment of these patients and their families.

Our members are active in the national and international collaborative activity that is required to run clinical trials in these rare diseases. Taking leading roles in the development and co-ordination of national and international trials such as the ALL R3 trial for relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and its successor IntReALL, and rEECur (a European phase II/III trial for relapsed Ewing’s sarcoma).

Members of the Centre are also active within the NCRI Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, and its subgroups, the NCRI Teenage and Young Adult Group, and in international organisations such as SIOPEN, the EuroEwing Consortium and SIOP.

We are particularly active in research and service development for teenagers and young adults (TYA), and enjoy a close relationship with the Teenage Cancer Trust which funds both a research programme and a number of NHS posts, with both research and service aspects. We have close links with the Manchester children’s cancer research charity Friends of Rosie which has supported a number of research projects across the Centre.