I was pleased to be re-elected as the Vice Chairman of the South East Cancer Help Centre. Our doors are open to anyone who is affected by cancer. Our guest speaker was Dr Robert Thomas BSc (Hons) FRCP FRCR EBIR. Consultant Diagnostic and Interventional Radioligist. He spoke about his work as a radiologist’s involvement in the cancer pathway. I found the work he is undertaking with SIRTS and interventional oncology fascinating. There follows a short piece about Robert and his work.
Dr Robert Thomas qualified from St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London School of Medicine in 2003. He trained as a physician gaining membership to The Royal College of Physicians in 2007 developing a particular interest in gastrointestinal (GI) medicine.
Moving into general radiology training at Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Hospital, Dr Thomas became a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiology before embarking on over three years of sub specialist fellowship training in general interventional adiology (Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital, London), diagnostic oncological radiology (The Royal Marsden Hospital, London) and completing his sub specialist experience with 15 months at The University of Alberta, Canada training in interventional oncology. Dr Thomas gained the European Board of Interventional Radiology (EBIR) in 2013 passing the exam with sub speciality components of interventional oncology and embolisation.
Dr Thomas is a full time NHS Consultant Diagnostic and Interventional Radiologist at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London, United Kingdom. He has a busy job performing and interpreting cross sectional imaging (CT/MRI) as well as ultrasound scans. His general interventional radiology commitments at one of London’s busiest trauma centres and regional vascular units includes a wide variety of planned/emergency endovascular and percutaneous procedures. Dr Thomas has developed a clinical and research interest in the radiological diagnosis and intervention of cancer in particular within the hepatobiliary liver/gallbladder/pancreas) and gastrointestinal systems.
Dr Thomas is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College. His research interests include minimally invasive liver directed therapies for liver tumours (e.g. Selective Internal Radiation Therapy - SIRT [SIRTEX and TheraSphere]) as well as other metastatic cancer trials in particular for neuroendocrine (NET), colorectal (CRC) and pancreatic tumour sub types. Some of Dr Thomas’s current research projects include recruitment for a NIHR funded non-surgical bariatric trial looking at the effects of selective embolisation of the blood vessels supplying the stomach, the emergency management of pulmonary embolism with clot busting catheters (EKOS) and the treatment of metastatic pancreatic liver disease with a tumour directed vaccinia virus.
