Professor Galina Velikova

Group Director Professor of Psychosocial and Medical Oncology, University of Leeds Consultant in Medical Oncology

Galina joined the group in 1997 to work on a PhD project on quality of life measurement in daily oncology practice, having trained in medicine and internal diseases in Bulgaria and in medical oncology in the Yorkshire Oncology training programme.

Galina has a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Grant (2003-2008) and since 2007 a Cancer Research UK programme grant in psycho-social oncology to continue research in implementation of routine measurement of quality of life in oncology practice. She is a Consultant in Medical Oncology and holds the chair of Psychosocial and Medical Oncology at the University of Leeds. Her clinical work focuses on chemotherapy treatment of patients with breast cancer, palliative chemotherapy and supportive care.

The main focus of Galina's research is on studying the effects on medical decision-making of collecting and providing quality of life information, the impact on physician-patient interactions and developing training for physicians on interpreting, using and responding to quality of life measures in individual patients. The regular collection of questionnaire information from patients is performed with touch-screen computers in oncology clinics with immediate print-out of results in a graphic format. Galina also involved in the quality of life sub-studies of large national trials in breast cancer.

Galina has been a member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Group since 1994, a member of the Executive Committee since 2000, and is responsible for Module Development. She is also a member of the UK National Cancer Research Institute Psychosocial Oncology Study Group, a Board member of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) and Chair of the British Psychosocial Oncology Society (BPOS).