Prof Chris Boshoff – 2008

Prof Chris Boshoff – 2008

Chris completed his medical degree in South Africa and his PhD in Prof Robin Weiss’ laboratory at the Institute of Cancer Research, London.  He trained in Medical Oncology at the Royal London-, Royal Free- and Royal Marsden Hospitals.

In 2001 he was appointed Professor of Cancer Medicine at UCL and Director of the CR-UK Viral Oncology Group in the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research.  In 2007 he was appointed Director of the Cancer Institute.

His current activities include cancer physician in the Head and Neck Tumour Unit at UCH and translational research in Lung and Head and Neck cancers, and in Sarcoma. His laboratory also continues to investigate mechanisms of viral oncogenesis. Honours include Dozor Visiting Professorship, Ben Gurion University, Israel (1998); Glaxo Wellcome Prize Fellowship (1998); Fleming Prize (2003); and the Entente Cordiale Cancer Prize (2004). In 2005 he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Chris discussed the history of viruses and cancer; and how Kaposi sarcoma emerged from being a rare curiosity affecting mainly elderly men in Eastern Europe, to become a common cancer in many parts of the world.