Professors Ruth Plummer and Stephen O’Brien will take up their new NHS England roles on 1 September 2025. They will each play a leading part in making sure NHS patients have the best possible access to new cancer treatments.

With expertise across both solid cancers and blood cancers, Professor Plummer and Professor O’Brien will provide NHS England with the clinical and health economic expertise to support commissioning decisions on new cancer therapies.

This includes the management of the £340m Cancer Drugs Fund that enables early patient access to new treatments while further data is collected on their benefit.

A ‘crucial role’

Working in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), pharmaceutical companies, patient groups and many others, the national clinical leads will play a crucial role in expanding access to clinically and cost-effective cancer treatments.

NHS National Clinical Director for cancer, Professor Peter Johnson, said: “The decision to appoint both a medical oncology expert and a haematology expert, in Ruth and Stephen respectively, reflects the increased breadth and specialisation of cancer treatments in recent years, and enables NHS England to draw on the very best expertise that each new cancer drug assessment demands.

“They have both already contributed so much to cancer care and treatment through their roles in Newcastle and I’m pleased they will be joining NHS England to help us maximise patient benefit and taxpayer value from our significant spending on cancer medicines.

“As we deliver the 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS over the next decade, we will continue to improve cancer survival by adopting the next generation of clinically and cost-effective therapies that offer the promise of more patients being cured of, or living well with, their cancer.

“As we expand earlier diagnosis using new technologies, and helping people engage with testing and screening through a neighbourhood healthcare approach, I am optimistic for the future of cancer care in this country.”

Professor Plummer, clinical professor of experimental cancer medicine at Newcastle University and honorary consultant medical oncologist at Newcastle Hospitals, will continue in her role as Director of the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre – an early phase clinical trials unit - in the Northern Centre for Cancer Care at the Freeman Hospital. In 2022, her work was recognised with an MBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours.

In addition to her ongoing commitments in Newcastle, Professor Plummer will also continue in her role as Managing Director of the Cancer Drugs Development Forum, the leading non-competitive drug development platform working to stimulate the advancement and accessibility of cancer treatment throughout Europe.

She said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at NHS England to work with NICE and ensure timely access to innovative new cancer treatments for patients in the NHS.”

As well as looking after NHS patients with haematological malignancies, Professor O’Brien was previously the Chief Investigator for the national trials in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), involving hundreds of patients in hospitals throughout the UK.

His clinical focus has been the development of a cutting-edge class of targeted cancer therapies, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and Stephen was the first in the UK to treat blood cancer patients with imatinib, the first approved TKI, 25 years ago.

The drug continues to be a standard treatment for patients, while a wide range of other TKIs have since been approved for NHS use.

Prior to stepping down recently, Professor O’Brien was also Chair of NICE Technology Appraisal Committee C, reviewing cancer medicines to determine whether a new treatment was a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. He continues to look after patients at the Freeman Hospital.

He added: “Drug developments in recent years have greatly improved outcomes in many forms of cancer but there are often uncertainties about how effective new medicines are in the ‘real world’ of the NHS.

“I’m looking forward to helping the NHS embrace promising new cancer treatments quickly and evaluate them over time to see if they really deliver, and I’m optimistic that the dynamic approach set out in the 10 Year Health Plan can ensure we offer patients the best available treatments with a proven track-record.” 

Next chapter

Robert Kettell, Director for Medicines Negotiation and Managed Access at NHS England said: “The NHS has led the way in CAR-T therapies, personalised cancer vaccines and the rollout of injections that cut the time cancer patients spend in hospital from hours to minutes, and I’m delighted that Ruth and Steve will help write the next chapter in NHS cancer care.

“On behalf of NHS England, I’d also like to thank former National Clinical Lead for Cancer Drugs, Professor Peter Clark, who for more than a decade offered clinical expertise and candid advice to help more than 100,000 patients receive faster access to over 100 different medicines through the Cancer Drugs Fund that he helped build into what it is today”.