{"id":15661,"date":"2022-08-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/perspectives\/forging-a-new-model-for-cancer-treatment\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:52:00","slug":"forging-a-new-model-for-cancer-treatment","status":"publish","type":"perspectives","link":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/en\/perspectives\/forging-a-new-model-for-cancer-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Forging a new model for cancer treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republished from Abdul Latif Jameel Health Insights here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Q&A with Professor R Charles Coombes, newly appointed special scientific advisor to Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/h4>\n

The latest special scientific advisor to join the Advisory Board of <\/em>Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/em><\/a> is <\/em>Professor Charles Coombes<\/em><\/a>, a renowned world-leading authority on cancer, with a particular focus on breast cancer. \u00a0We spoke to Professor Coombes about his research, his new role at Abdul Latif Jameel Health, and his vision for the future of global healthcare.<\/em><\/p>\n

As part of its mission to accelerate access to modern quality healthcare around the world, Abdul Latif Jameel Health is continually looking to build partnerships with the leading innovators, organizations, and researchers in the global healthcare industry.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Professor Charles Coombes PhD MBBS FRCP MD FMedSci<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"Professor R Charles Coombes is Professor of Medical Oncology, Imperial College London<\/a>, and Honorary Consultant Medical Oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is also Chairman of the International Collaborative Cancer Group<\/a> \u2013 a multinational trial center (based at Imperial College London) focusing on phase II and III studies in breast cancer, among other senior roles in oncology.<\/p>\n

\"\"A keen advocate of a cross-disciplinary approach to cancer research, Professor Coombes helped to establish the Convergence Science Centre<\/a> at Imperial College in 2020.<\/p>\n

He also runs a translational laboratory which focuses on detection of micro-metastatic disease and application to the treatment of breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Could you provide a brief overview of your current work?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>One of the most important initiatives I\u2019m involved with at the moment is the Convergence Science Centre, which is a strategic partnership between Imperial College London<\/a> and The Institute of Cancer Research, London<\/a>, that was initiated around seven years ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"The aim of the program is to bring together the science expertise of Imperial College across a whole range of disciplines to help people with cancer.<\/p>\n

The most common sciences used in cancer detection and treatment are molecular and cell biology and drug discovery, but it\u2019s now widely recognized that this isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

To truly make headway with this complex disease, you need to leverage the latest expertise from other scientific fields, too, such as bioengineering, mathematics, physics, population sciences, computing sciences, and so forth, which have traditionally been neglected in cancer research.<\/p>\n

This work was built on the fact that I\u2019ve spent half of my career at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, and half my career at Imperial College.\u00a0 It seemed logical \u00a0that if we could bring together these two great institutions, both of which, combined, probably rank among the top in the UK \u2013 if not the world \u2013 in terms of cancer expertise, it could help us solve this problem.<\/p>\n

Could you explain how the Convergence Science Centre works?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>It\u2019s a sad fact that although cancer affects nearly half of us, in the West at least, it\u2019s not easy to predict which person is going to develop what cancer.\u00a0 And if cancer does develop, it\u2019s not easy to predict how the cancer is going to evolve in the human body. \u00a0This uncertainty means we can\u2019t harness new molecular treatments and diagnostic technology in the best way.\u00a0 We now have blood tests and sputum tests that can detect cancer at an extremely early stage, and blood tests that can tell you how the cancer is evolving in the patient.\u00a0 But until we have ways of enriching these technologies, we cannot refine them to be available to everyone in the world.<\/p>\n

The Convergence Science Centre helps to bring multiple scientific disciplines together to try and bridge some of these gaps in crucial areas, such as the extremely complex mathematics around genetics and DNA.<\/p>\n

What are the benefits of this approach?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>Cancer treatment in the West is based on a set of rather toxic treatments such as radiotherapy \u00a0and cytotoxic chemotherapy, and so forth.\u00a0 These are ill-defined and non-targeted technologies that as well as combating cancer, are also damaging to normal cells.\u00a0 For the \u2018global south\u2019, the aim is to sidestep these, potentially rather harmful, treatments and go straight to the latest modern diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.\u00a0 For example, artificial intelligence can define which patients need to be screened, and the type of cancer and the evolution of the cancer can all be diagnosed by\u00a0 blood tests.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need complex radiotherapy systems and large healthcare infrastructures.\u00a0 What we will need in the future are usable diagnostic technologies and targeted treatments that will enable us to avoid the sorts of damaging treatments that people have had to undergo to have their cancer treated over the last 50 years.<\/p>\n

The combination of easy diagnostics and then targeted treatment following surgery is the answer to improving the survival rate of cancer in the global south.<\/p>\n

When did you first become aware of Abdul Latif Jameel Health?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>It is a name I\u2019ve known for a while \u2013 an organization that I knew was interested in improving access to quality healthcare in emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, which is an issue I care deeply about.\u00a0 I regularly attend conferences and I\u2019m invited to give lectures in locations across the world, particularly the MENA region, and Abdul Latif Jameel is a name that often comes up.\u00a0 So, when the opportunity arose to get involved more directly, I was keen to learn more.<\/p>\n

In your role as a special scientific advisor, what do you hope to bring to the organization?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>I\u2019m a cancer clinician and cancer scientist.\u00a0 There is a big gap between what people discover in laboratories and how it\u2019s brought into clinical use and then applied to patients.\u00a0 This gap is often ignored, because scientists are always moving on to the next thing, the next stage in their research, to constantly refine and improve what they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

It needs somebody like me at Imperial College to take what they\u2019ve developed and say \u201cI know you\u2019re still working on this, but what you\u2019ve got so far looks pretty good.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing like it out there, so let\u2019s see if we can use it to help people.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 It\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing all my career.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been involved in developing new drugs for cancer, new diagnostic tests, mainly for breast cancer, for 40 years, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m aiming to continue doing through my role at Abdul Latif Jameel Health.<\/p>\n

Abdul Latif Jameel Health has a particular focus on improving access to healthcare in the global south. \u00a0Is this important to you?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>Yes, absolutely.\u00a0 It\u2019s an issue I\u2019m passionate about.\u00a0 For example, I\u2019ve lectured in Nigeria where there was a single cancer center with functioning equipment for the entire country of 160 million people.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been to many countries in the region where there is huge poverty, inequality, and a lack of diagnostic capability.<\/p>\n

As well as financial hurdles to overcome, there are often cultural ones, too, in terms of educating people about cancer and helping them to understand that it\u2019s not something to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.<\/p>\n

What do you see as the biggest challenges for cancer research and treatment?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>I think education is the most important thing.\u00a0 You could invest any amount of money, but without education it is only going to have a limited impact.\u00a0 The first thing to do is to educate people about illnesses and what can be done about them.\u00a0 The next priority is screening people at risk and introducing some sort of clear pathway for them to get help easily.\u00a0 To a certain degree, a lot of this could be done remotely using modern technology.\u00a0 The idea of people having to travel hundreds of miles and wait for hours in a hospital in the hope of seeing a doctor doesn\u2019t work in the modern world.<\/p>\n

One thing the COVID-19 pandemic taught us is that communication across the world is much easier than we thought.\u00a0 We should be using this to our advantage to make healthcare much more accessible in those markets that most need it.<\/p>\n

How could technologies like artificial intelligence and big data help to improve this picture?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>These kinds of technologies are hugely important to the fight against cancer, and increasingly so. Artificial intelligence (AI) is sometimes spoken of as if it\u2019s some sort of separate discipline, but it\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s already integrated within the work that \u00a0I and many cancer researchers do.<\/p>\n

Half the scientists we employ now are specialists in AI. \u00a0Not just talented mathematicians, but people who also understand genetics, biology, cancer, who can bridge these divides and bring that knowledge together.\u00a0 This is modern cancer research, and this is what the Convergence Science Centre aims to do.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo Credit \u00a9 Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre<\/p><\/div>\n

A single cell is probably more complex than all the computers currently available throughout the world. \u00a0Within a tiny teaspoon of blood from a cancer patient, there are more than a million fragments of DNA and RNA, all of which give information about the type of cancer they\u2019ve got and how to treat that cancer.\u00a0 But decoding that information and making it sense of it all is impossible without AI.\u00a0 Working out which sub-populations have a greater propensity to develop cancer and therefore more likely to benefit from screening is another critical area where AI is essential.\u00a0 \u00a0And then of course, there are the families with a history of cancer where AI is vital for helping us to understand the genetics of cancer predisposition.<\/p>\n

Another area where AI is essential is in terms of chemistry and target identification.\u00a0 When, for example, a blood test shows there is cancer present and that it is growing and dividing by a certain type of factor, to build a drug to inhibit that you need to know the structure of the protein that the drug is supposed to bind to, to inhibit the cancer proliferation in that particular patient.\u00a0 It\u2019s extraordinarily complex and relies on AI at virtually every stage in the journey to discover a new drug.<\/p>\n

How has the pandemic changed the narrative around global healthcare?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>I think it has changed it in two main ways.\u00a0 First, it has shown people that science can have a global impact.\u00a0 There\u2019s been a certain amount of cynicism about modern science among commentators before the pandemic, around climate change for example.\u00a0 The pandemic has shown the massively positive impact that science can have and how it can improve health outcomes for people across the globe.<\/p>\n

The second big change is that the pandemic has highlighted the inequality of healthcare between different regions of the world.\u00a0 The proportion of people in the global south who have been vaccinated is still incredibly low, for example.<\/p>\n

Within the field of cancer specifically, there is growing understanding that, in the same way that viruses evolve and change their genetics to overcome treatments, cancer does too.\u00a0 \u00a0People have become used to the idea of sequencing viruses and the same thing is true in cancer.\u00a0 You need to monitor the cancer in the patient to predict what treatments you\u2019re going to give the patient.\u00a0 That\u2019s very similar to the development of vaccines for mutated viruses.<\/p>\n

How do you hope Abdul Latif Jameel Health can help to improve this picture and address some of these challenges?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>I believe Abdul Latif Jameel Health has a fairly unique role in that it is interested in early diagnosis, and it seeks to bring the latest healthcare advances to underserved markets in the global south.\u00a0 The Butterfly iQ+ handheld ultrasound device<\/a>, for example, is an example of a technology that could make a huge difference in many markets though earlier diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\"Butterfly

The Butterfly IQ+ hand-held, whole-body ultrasound probe in action (Photo Credit \u00a9 Butterfly Network Inc.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Abdul Latif Jameel\u2019s strong legacy in the region, its knowledge, understanding and existing partnerships, can also be a great advantage in getting these technologies out into the market and overcoming some of the barriers \u2013 often cultural and practical issues as much as financial ones.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, how optimistic are you for the future of cancer research and cancer treatment?<\/h2>\n

CC: <\/strong>I\u2019m biased, because in my area of breast cancer I\u2019ve seen the cure rate improving quite dramatically throughout my career, so in that sense I\u2019m very optimistic.\u00a0 Of course, there are still big discrepancies in breast cancer rates across the globe, but overall, I\u2019m hopeful that in 10 years we will have significantly improved the cure rate.<\/p>\n

Other cancers, like lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer for example, are very difficult to treat, partly because they are diagnosed too late.\u00a0 This is where some of these technologies around testing, screening and early diagnosis are vital.\u00a0 These could change the face of cancer treatment, particularly in the global south, if we can apply them effectively.<\/p>\n

So, I\u2019m optimistic, but it needs to be done on almost an \u2018industrial\u2019 scale rather than the piecemeal methods that have been used up to now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15663,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-15661","perspectives","type-perspectives","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nForging a new model for cancer treatment - Abdul Latif Jameel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forging a new model for cancer treatment - Abdul Latif Jameel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Republished from Abdul Latif Jameel Health Insights here. 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from Abdul Latif Jameel Health Insights <a href=\"https:\/\/aljhealth.com\/en\/insights\/forging-a-new-model-for-cancer-treatment-a-qa-with-professor-r-charles-coombes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<h4>A Q&A with Professor R Charles Coombes, newly appointed special scientific advisor to Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/h4>\r\n<p><em>The latest special scientific advisor to join the Advisory Board of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/aljhealth.com\"><em>Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/em><\/a><em> is <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/aljhealth.com\/en\/our-people\/professor-charles-coombes-mbbs-frcp-md-fmedsci\/\"><em>Professor Charles Coombes<\/em><\/a><em>, a renowned world-leading authority on cancer, with a particular focus on breast cancer. \u00a0We spoke to Professor Coombes about his research, his new role at Abdul Latif Jameel Health, and his vision for the future of global healthcare.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>As part of its mission to accelerate access to modern quality healthcare around the world, Abdul Latif Jameel Health is continually looking to build partnerships with the leading innovators, organizations, and researchers in the global healthcare industry.<\/p>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_100919\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-100919\" src=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Prof-Charles-Coombes-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" \/> Professor Charles Coombes PhD MBBS FRCP MD FMedSci[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<p><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-100905\" src=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ICR-ICL-logos-300x55.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"55\" \/>Professor R Charles Coombes is Professor of Medical Oncology, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/c.coombes\">Imperial College London<\/a>, and Honorary Consultant Medical Oncologist at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.nhs.uk\/consultant-directory\/raoul-charles-coombes\">Imperial College Healthcare Trust<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>He is also Chairman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigagainstbreastcancer.org\/\">International Collaborative Cancer Group<\/a> \u2013 a multinational trial center (based at Imperial College London) focusing on phase II and III studies in breast cancer, among other senior roles in oncology.<\/p>\r\n<p><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-100898\" src=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/08\/CRUK-logo-300x87.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"87\" \/>A keen advocate of a cross-disciplinary approach to cancer research, Professor Coombes helped to establish the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.convergencesciencecentre.ac.uk\/\">Convergence Science Centre<\/a> at Imperial College in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>He also runs a translational laboratory which focuses on detection of micro-metastatic disease and application to the treatment of breast cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Could you provide a brief overview of your current work?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>One of the most important initiatives I\u2019m involved with at the moment is the Convergence Science Centre, which is a strategic partnership between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/\">Imperial College London<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icr.ac.uk\/\">The Institute of Cancer Research, London<\/a>, that was initiated around seven years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-100912\" src=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ICR-ICL-exterior-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" \/>The aim of the program is to bring together the science expertise of Imperial College across a whole range of disciplines to help people with cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The most common sciences used in cancer detection and treatment are molecular and cell biology and drug discovery, but it\u2019s now widely recognized that this isn\u2019t enough. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>To truly make headway with this complex disease, you need to leverage the latest expertise from other scientific fields, too, such as bioengineering, mathematics, physics, population sciences, computing sciences, and so forth, which have traditionally been neglected in cancer research.<\/p>\r\n<p>This work was built on the fact that I\u2019ve spent half of my career at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, and half my career at Imperial College.\u00a0 It seemed logical \u00a0that if we could bring together these two great institutions, both of which, combined, probably rank among the top in the UK \u2013 if not the world \u2013 in terms of cancer expertise, it could help us solve this problem.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Could you explain how the Convergence Science Centre works?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>It\u2019s a sad fact that although cancer affects nearly half of us, in the West at least, it\u2019s not easy to predict which person is going to develop what cancer.\u00a0 And if cancer does develop, it\u2019s not easy to predict how the cancer is going to evolve in the human body. \u00a0This uncertainty means we can\u2019t harness new molecular treatments and diagnostic technology in the best way.\u00a0 We now have blood tests and sputum tests that can detect cancer at an extremely early stage, and blood tests that can tell you how the cancer is evolving in the patient.\u00a0 But until we have ways of enriching these technologies, we cannot refine them to be available to everyone in the world. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The Convergence Science Centre helps to bring multiple scientific disciplines together to try and bridge some of these gaps in crucial areas, such as the extremely complex mathematics around genetics and DNA.<\/p>\r\n<h2>What are the benefits of this approach?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>Cancer treatment in the West is based on a set of rather toxic treatments such as radiotherapy \u00a0and cytotoxic chemotherapy, and so forth.\u00a0 These are ill-defined and non-targeted technologies that as well as combating cancer, are also damaging to normal cells.\u00a0 For the \u2018global south\u2019, the aim is to sidestep these, potentially rather harmful, treatments and go straight to the latest modern diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.\u00a0 For example, artificial intelligence can define which patients need to be screened, and the type of cancer and the evolution of the cancer can all be diagnosed by\u00a0 blood tests.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need complex radiotherapy systems and large healthcare infrastructures.\u00a0 What we will need in the future are usable diagnostic technologies and targeted treatments that will enable us to avoid the sorts of damaging treatments that people have had to undergo to have their cancer treated over the last 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>The combination of easy diagnostics and then targeted treatment following surgery is the answer to improving the survival rate of cancer in the global south.<\/p>\r\n<h2>When did you first become aware of Abdul Latif Jameel Health?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>It is a name I\u2019ve known for a while \u2013 an organization that I knew was interested in improving access to quality healthcare in emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, which is an issue I care deeply about.\u00a0 I regularly attend conferences and I\u2019m invited to give lectures in locations across the world, particularly the MENA region, and Abdul Latif Jameel is a name that often comes up.\u00a0 So, when the opportunity arose to get involved more directly, I was keen to learn more.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>In your role as a special scientific advisor, what do you hope to bring to the organization?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>I\u2019m a cancer clinician and cancer scientist.\u00a0 There is a big gap between what people discover in laboratories and how it\u2019s brought into clinical use and then applied to patients.\u00a0 This gap is often ignored, because scientists are always moving on to the next thing, the next stage in their research, to constantly refine and improve what they\u2019ve done.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>It needs somebody like me at Imperial College to take what they\u2019ve developed and say <em>\u201cI know you\u2019re still working on this, but what you\u2019ve got so far looks pretty good.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing like it out there, so let\u2019s see if we can use it to help people.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 It\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing all my career.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been involved in developing new drugs for cancer, new diagnostic tests, mainly for breast cancer, for 40 years, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m aiming to continue doing through my role at Abdul Latif Jameel Health.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Abdul Latif Jameel Health has a particular focus on improving access to healthcare in the global south. \u00a0Is this important to you?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>Yes, absolutely.\u00a0 It\u2019s an issue I\u2019m passionate about.\u00a0 For example, I\u2019ve lectured in Nigeria where there was a single cancer center with functioning equipment for the entire country of 160 million people.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been to many countries in the region where there is huge poverty, inequality, and a lack of diagnostic capability.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>As well as financial hurdles to overcome, there are often cultural ones, too, in terms of educating people about cancer and helping them to understand that it\u2019s not something to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>What do you see as the biggest challenges for cancer research and treatment?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>I think education is the most important thing.\u00a0 You could invest any amount of money, but without education it is only going to have a limited impact.\u00a0 The first thing to do is to educate people about illnesses and what can be done about them.\u00a0 The next priority is screening people at risk and introducing some sort of clear pathway for them to get help easily.\u00a0 To a certain degree, a lot of this could be done remotely using modern technology.\u00a0 The idea of people having to travel hundreds of miles and wait for hours in a hospital in the hope of seeing a doctor doesn\u2019t work in the modern world.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>One thing the COVID-19 pandemic taught us is that communication across the world is much easier than we thought.\u00a0 We should be using this to our advantage to make healthcare much more accessible in those markets that most need it.<\/p>\r\n<h2>How could technologies like artificial intelligence and big data help to improve this picture?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>These kinds of technologies are hugely important to the fight against cancer, and increasingly so. Artificial intelligence (AI) is sometimes spoken of as if it\u2019s some sort of separate discipline, but it\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s already integrated within the work that \u00a0I and many cancer researchers do.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Half the scientists we employ now are specialists in AI. \u00a0Not just talented mathematicians, but people who also understand genetics, biology, cancer, who can bridge these divides and bring that knowledge together.\u00a0 This is modern cancer research, and this is what the Convergence Science Centre aims to do.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_100891\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1912\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-100891\" src=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Cells.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1912\" height=\"843\" \/> Photo Credit \u00a9 Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<p>A single cell is probably more complex than all the computers currently available throughout the world. \u00a0Within a tiny teaspoon of blood from a cancer patient, there are more than a million fragments of DNA and RNA, all of which give information about the type of cancer they\u2019ve got and how to treat that cancer.\u00a0 But decoding that information and making it sense of it all is impossible without AI.\u00a0 Working out which sub-populations have a greater propensity to develop cancer and therefore more likely to benefit from screening is another critical area where AI is essential.\u00a0 \u00a0And then of course, there are the families with a history of cancer where AI is vital for helping us to understand the genetics of cancer predisposition.<\/p>\r\n<p>Another area where AI is essential is in terms of chemistry and target identification.\u00a0 When, for example, a blood test shows there is cancer present and that it is growing and dividing by a certain type of factor, to build a drug to inhibit that you need to know the structure of the protein that the drug is supposed to bind to, to inhibit the cancer proliferation in that particular patient.\u00a0 It\u2019s extraordinarily complex and relies on AI at virtually every stage in the journey to discover a new drug.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>How has the pandemic changed the narrative around global healthcare?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>I think it has changed it in two main ways.\u00a0 First, it has shown people that science can have a global impact.\u00a0 There\u2019s been a certain amount of cynicism about modern science among commentators before the pandemic, around climate change for example.\u00a0 The pandemic has shown the massively positive impact that science can have and how it can improve health outcomes for people across the globe.<\/p>\r\n<p>The second big change is that the pandemic has highlighted the inequality of healthcare between different regions of the world.\u00a0 The proportion of people in the global south who have been vaccinated is still incredibly low, for example.<\/p>\r\n<p>Within the field of cancer specifically, there is growing understanding that, in the same way that viruses evolve and change their genetics to overcome treatments, cancer does too.\u00a0 \u00a0People have become used to the idea of sequencing viruses and the same thing is true in cancer.\u00a0 You need to monitor the cancer in the patient to predict what treatments you\u2019re going to give the patient.\u00a0 That\u2019s very similar to the development of vaccines for mutated viruses.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>How do you hope Abdul Latif Jameel Health can help to improve this picture and address some of these challenges?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>I believe Abdul Latif Jameel Health has a fairly unique role in that it is interested in early diagnosis, and it seeks to bring the latest healthcare advances to underserved markets in the global south.\u00a0 The Butterfly iQ+ <a href=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/en\/perspective\/democratizing-healthcare-scan-by-scan\/\">handheld ultrasound device<\/a>, for example, is an example of a technology that could make a huge difference in many markets though earlier diagnosis. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_94225\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2560\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-94225\" src=\"https:\/\/alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ERM_4668.jpg\" alt=\"Butterfly Network\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" \/> The Butterfly IQ+ hand-held, whole-body ultrasound probe in action (Photo Credit \u00a9 Butterfly Network Inc.)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<p>Abdul Latif Jameel\u2019s strong legacy in the region, its knowledge, understanding and existing partnerships, can also be a great advantage in getting these technologies out into the market and overcoming some of the barriers \u2013 often cultural and practical issues as much as financial ones.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Looking ahead, how optimistic are you for the future of cancer research and cancer treatment?<\/h2>\r\n<p><strong>CC: <\/strong>I\u2019m biased, because in my area of breast cancer I\u2019ve seen the cure rate improving quite dramatically throughout my career, so in that sense I\u2019m very optimistic.\u00a0 Of course, there are still big discrepancies in breast cancer rates across the globe, but overall, I\u2019m hopeful that in 10 years we will have significantly improved the cure rate.<\/p>\r\n<p>Other cancers, like lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer for example, are very difficult to treat, partly because they are diagnosed too late.\u00a0 This is where some of these technologies around testing, screening and early diagnosis are vital.\u00a0 These could change the face of cancer treatment, particularly in the global south, if we can apply them effectively.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>So, I\u2019m optimistic, but it needs to be done on almost an \u2018industrial\u2019 scale rather than the piecemeal methods that have been used up to now.<\/p>"],"_content":[""],"_edit_last":["22"],"_ame_cpe_post_policy":["{\"accessProtection\":{\"active\":\"replace\"}}"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["1"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["11"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/perspectives\/15661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/perspectives"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/perspectives"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.alj3.clients.lemonhq.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}