Doctor Jenny Seligmann

Dr Jenny Seligmann is the chief investigator for two international clinical bowel cancer trials following £3.4 million in funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Involving researchers at the University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham, the new studies will explore whether giving specific groups of patients a course of chemotherapy before surgery can help improve survival rates.

Dr Seligmann, who is based at the Bexley Wing at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds said: “Introducing this approach has been one of the biggest advances in the last 15 years for this common cancer. For the first time we will be able to start personalising therapy by selecting the right treatment for the right patient. The new research will allow us to establish which patients are suitable for chemotherapy and who will respond best to this approach.”