UPDATE - Issue 36 - Spring 2009
Seminar Speaker Profile – Heather Payne MBBS, FRCP, FRCR
I have spoken at seven Master Class seminars and have found them to be relaxed and informative sessions. Particularly enjoyable has been the interaction with the doctors and nurses in primary care where there have been valuable exchanges of information and ideas relating to the different stages of the management of prostate cancer.
I was appointed as a Consultant in Clinical Oncology at University College Hospital, London in 1997. My training to be a doctor was at London University in St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and after qualifying I spent some time working in general medicine and surgery, paediatrics and psychiatry. I then worked as a volunteer doctor in the Caribbean island of Haiti where conventional medicine was mixed with voodoo practices.
After returning to London, while training as a Clinical Oncologist, I developed an interest in urological oncology. I now have a busy practice specialising only in the management of urological malignancies at University College Hospital and the Prostate Centre in London. My major interest and passion is the treatment of prostate cancer.
My work involves the management of all stages of prostate cancer as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Each stage of prostate cancer has its own particular challenges and problems. I treat men with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy and am also involved in clinical trials looking at new drugs. We have pioneered a programme of High Dose Rate Brachytherapy at University College Hospital which has allowed the delivery of higher, and potentially more effective doses of radiotherapy for men with high risk or locally advanced prostate cancer. The academic challenges of these new technologies are fascinating but this is balanced with the very human side to my job, which is caring for men and their families at a very difficult time.
Some men are reticent about seeking help for what can be rather embarrassing problems relating to their urinary function or potency. It is not unusual for them initially to attend the doctor’s surgery at the prompting of their wives or partners. A diagnosis of any cancer affects not only the patient but also all the people who care for them and about them and it is one of the challenges of my job to try and understand the particular worries and concerns of not only the patient but also their families and loved ones. I often feel very humble at the way in which my patients cope with this disease and I am privileged to share in the many joys of successful treatments.
We started the British Uro-oncology Group (BUG) as a professional organisation to support oncologists with a specialised interest in urological tumours. I am now its chairman and also serve on the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action and the Department of Health’s Prostate Cancer Advisory Group for the United Kingdom.
I am also proud to be a trustee of Prostate UK. As well as starting and running the Master Class seminars, it provides invaluable help and information to men and their families when they are diagnosed with prostate cancer. It also funds and supports new developments and clinical research both in the laboratory and in the clinic that could make a very significant impact on the lives of men with this disease.
Prostate UK hopes that these discoveries will make the journey from bench to bedside a reality and improve further the outcome for men with prostate cancer.