History and Background of the Group

The Psychosocial Oncology and Clinical Practice Research Group was established in 1999 under Professor Peter Selby.

In 1998 proposals for the group were presented as part of a general scientific review of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Cancer Medicine Research Unit. Previous work in this area had been carried out using project funding from other funding bodies. Two scientific officer posts and a half-time clerical officer were supported for 3 years by ICRF. The main objectives and strands of research were to introduce automated assessment of quality of life issues in oncology practice and evaluate their impacts on patient care and outcomes and to continue the development of the tools used for this for use in daily practice in clinics.

In 2001, the group was reviewed separately from the ICRF Cancer Medicine Research Unit in what would be its first 5-yearly review. Support was provided for a clinical research fellow, two senior scientific officers, one scientific officer and a half-time clerical support/data collection person.

In 2002, ICRF merged with the Cancer Research Campaign to form Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the world's largest independent organisation dedicated to cancer resarch.

In 2003 Dr Galina Velikova, the group leader, got a further grant from Cancer Research UK which funded her time, a full-time research assistant and a half-time administrative support post. The following year, the Yorkshire Cancer Research Network (YCRN) funded another research assistant post to enable studies to be expanded to other locations in Yorkshire.

In 2006 the group underwent a successful second five-yearly review and was awarded a five year Programme Grant to continue its work. Additionally, approval was given for Galina Velikova to take over from Professor Selby and lead the programme.

The group continues to work with a number of collaborators, both locally and nationally, in the area of assessment of quality of life issues in cancer, their impact on patient care and outcomes and looking at ways of incorporating this in every day clinical practice.

In addition to the continuation of existing studies, the group has started a programme of work that develops this further. This falls into two main areas: adaptation of quality of life questionnaires to improve their ability to identify issues and training doctors how to interpret the results from the questionnaires and respond to them. Further details of the group's research can be found in other sections of this webpage

Finally, at the beginning of 2008 we moved from our old offices to the new St James's Institute of Oncology on the St James's Hospital site. We are now much closer to the clinics where our work is done and to many of the people with whom we work.