The SEC is responsible for the development and assessment of The Foundation’s medical education and training programmes and the review and administration of its grant making policy. The Chairman is a member of the Board of Trustees and the committee is made up of clinical trustees and academic urologists and scientists with an interest in urology.
Members
Prof Rakesh Heer - Chair
Professor Heer took over as Chairman of the Committee in April 2023. He is Urology Chair at Imperial College London and leads a large portfolio of national & international research in urological cancers. He treats patients with prostate, kidney & bladder cancer. He holds a number of National leadership roles, including NICE Clinical Guidelines Chairman. His NHS work has been recognised with a National Clinical Excellence award from the Department of Health (2021).
His responsibilities as SEC Chair will include the development of a new TUF Research Strategy, and to expand TUF's international connections.
Mr Imran Ahmad - Vice Chair
Mr Ahmad is a Surgeon-Scientist at the University of Glasgow, with an interest in translational prostate and bladder cancer research. He successfully set up the Robotic Pelvic Cancer Service in the West of Scotland and has been responsible for delivering several practice-changing clinical surgical trials over the last 5-years.
As SEC Vice Chair, Imran’s role is to strengthen TUF’s network across the regions, in particular championing and encouraging urology departments across the UK to take part in research and professional development opportunities.
Dr Andrew Feber
Dr Feber is Deputy Scientific Director (Clinical Genomics) at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. His research focuses on understanding the role the epigenome plays in cancer development, and how changes in the epigenome can be used as non-invasive biomarkers for the detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of patients with cancer.His research interest is in bladder cancer, penile cancer and prostate cancer.
Mr Jonathan Michelmore - Lay member
Jonathan has enjoyed an extensive and successful commercial career in sales, marketing and innovation at both a national and international level for a major blue chip company. Ridiculously healthy until his early 50s, two separate urological conditions made him realise that one can always earn more money but not more time and so he retired to pursue his travel ambitions. A desire to give something back to the urology community after successful treatment led Jonathan to join the SEC as a Lay Member in early 2020 to help the next generation of patients.
Vaibhav is an active researcher and strong advocate for Men’s health issues. His work has resulted in numerous international research publications. He is the associate surgical specialty lead for Andrological research at the British association of Urological Surgeon and Royal College of Surgeons, England. Vaibhav is a Consultant Urological Surgeon and Andrologist at the Manchester Andrology Centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Professor Jenny Southgate
Professor Jenny Southgate is Director of the Jack Birch Unit for Molecular Carcinogenesis (JBU) at York University. Most of the work in the Unit focuses on urothelium, the specialised epithelium that lines the urinary tract and gives rise to bladder cancer. One of the unit's discoveries in cell tissue has driven understanding of how cells change in cancer, and has also opened possibilities of cell therapies in patients with diseased bladders.The research has been patented and the unit is working with collaborators across Europe to interpret the findings in terms of the development of cancer.
Mr John Withington
John is an Associate Professor of Urology at University College London, and Honorary Consultant Urologist at UCLH. John is committed to ensuring both his clinical practice and research centre the patient’s needs. While this approach now informs a focus on prostate cancer, his career to date has included research into testis cancer, kidney cancer, urolithiasis, and continence surgery. John also has a strong interest in promoting healthcare equity and justice, and has spent time working towards fairer healthcare, both at NHS England and in the USA.
