Professor Amos Burke appointed Director of Birmingham’s Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU)

Professor Amos Burke has been appointed as the new Director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, based at BHP founder-member the University of Birmingham.

Professor Burke – a paediatric oncologist and has held a consultant position in the NHS since 2004 – joins the Unit from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  With a particular interest in childhood lymphomas, Professor Burke chaired the UK paediatric Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma subgroup of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Lymphoma Clinical Studies Group (2010-2018), remaining an active member (2019-2023). Since 2023 he has been the Deputy Chair of the UK Children’s Research Group (currently supported by the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group).

Commenting on his appointment, Amos said: “I am delighted to be joining CRCTU as it approaches its 40th year of CRUK funding as a result of its work under the leadership of the former Directors, most recently Professor Pam Kearns who brought children’s cancer trials into the unit during her tenure. CRCTU is nationally and internationally known for its trials in childhood and adult cancer, addressing unmet clinical needs and leading the use of innovative trial design. I look forward to leading CRCTU going forward as new approaches to increasingly complex trials involving more global collaboration are required.”

As the new Director of the CRCTU, he is responsible for the delivery of clinical cancer trials for children and young people in England. The CRCTU collaborates with clinician investigators driving cutting-edge research, with a focus on treatments that will change outcomes for people with cancer.

Professor Burke is currently the Chief Investigator for the innovative platform trial Glo-BNHL for children with relapsed and refractory mature B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.