UCLH is the designated hospital (called a primary treatment centre) for teenagers and young adults (16-24 years old) with brain tumours.
The service offers input from specialist adolescent oncologists, radiotherapists, neurosurgeons and neurologists.
We operate as a unified cancer centre together with Great Ormond Street Hospital and collectively form the largest paediatric/adolescent oncology centre in Europe. This alliance allows for excellent patient care and the seamless and efficient transition of patients between services.
Consultants
Dr Naomi Fersht coordinates care across brain tumour services at UCLH.
She is a consultant clinical oncologist at University College Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN). She specialises exclusively in the management of primary and secondary brain and spinal tumours. This involves the use of both conventional and innovative radiotherapy techniques and chemotherapy.
Her special interests are: brain oligometastases; meningiomas; pituitary tumours; the management of teenagers and young adults with brain tumours (age 16-24); and advanced radiotherapy techniques including radiosurgery.
She qualified from the University of Cambridge and her specialist training was at the Royal Marsden and University College Hospitals. Naomi's doctoral thesis, supervised by Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse, was in cell cycle checkpoints.
Dr Jeremy Rees was appointed as a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) in 1999 and has built a national and international reputation in neuro-oncology, seeing patients with brain tumours, particularly low-grade gliomas. His opinion is widely sought on the diagnosis and treatment of neurological problems related to cancer and cancer treatments. He was previously the Director for London Cancer Brain Tumour Pathway Board, involved in systematic improvements to patient pathways in North London.
He has been Education Lead for Neurology at UCL Medical School and is currently the Lead for the Special Study Module in Neurology. He lectures widely to different professional groups and has written chapters and a textbook in Neuro-oncology. He was the Chief Investigator for the UK in a major European trial of treatment options in Low Grade Gliomas.
Eileen qualified as a nurse nearly 30 years ago. She has spent most of her career working in either neurosciences or oncology and her current role is a combination of these two specialist experiences. She has worked as a Macmillan nurse for over ten years and at the NHNN at Queen Square for the last three years.
Eileen works mainly with patients who are having radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for the management a brain tumour.
“I see my role as a constant point of contact and support for patients and their families in an often complex health care system.”
Mr Neil Kitchen is a consultant neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and lead neurosurgeon for neuro-oncology.
He studied medicine at Bart's Health, University College London Hospitals and at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Before moving to Cambridge he completed a BSc degree in the history of medicine at the Wellcome Institute.
Mr Kitchen has special clinical interest in brain tumour surgery, intracranial microsurgery, trigeminal neuralgia, cavernoma and radiosurgery (Gamma Knife).
Mr Kitchen has also worked at Bart's, Charing Cross Hospital, the Royal Free, Atkinson Morley's, Southend Hospital, and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Ananth Shankar is a consultant paediatric and adolescent oncologist and is the clinical lead for adolescent neuro-oncology. Ananth Shankar studied medicine at Calicut Medical College, Kerala, India and trained in Paediatric Oncology at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin and the Royal Marsden Hospital.
His MD thesis was in Paediatric Lymphomas and he was previously a Research Fellow at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. His key interests are in adolescent neuro-oncology and nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin’s Lymphoma [LPHL] and he is the current UK Chief Investigator for the International EuroNet LPHL trial.
