Personal Statement
I graduated from IM (2) Yangon, Burma in 1972. I was appointed as a Clinical scientist for MRC Neutron trial project in 1983 and chaired the colorectal sub-group for neutron trials until 1995. I was the chair of TSG in Gastrointestinal malignancies at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology (1998-2012) where I worked as a consultant for over 30 years. My main research interest is in the treatment of rectal cancers. I introduced contact radiotherapy (Papillon) into the UK and started treating patients at Clatterbridge from 1993. So far, I have treated nearly 3000 patients using Papillon technique which is the world largest cohort of patients. I helped design a new contact radiotherapy machine together with his mentor Prof Jean Pierre Gerard in collaboration with Ariane Company. I am the director of Papillon course at Clatterbridge (2010-present).

I was appointed specialist advisor for NICE for rectal brachytherapy and helped write the guide lines published in Dec 2006 and Sept 2015 . I was reappointed as a specialist adviser for NICE in March 2019 to evaluate the role of CXB in advanced rectal cancer. I was a member of NCRI rectal and anal sub group committees (1995-2012). I have published over 80 peer reviewed publications and an author of 8 text book chapters. I was the guest editor for special issues of Clinical Oncology (Vol.19: No 9; Nov, 2007) ,Colorectal Disease (Vol 12: Supp 2:2010) and Special edition on SPECC [Colorectal Disease ] (Vol21: Supp1:March,2019).
I served as the oncology representative on the Council of Association of Coloproctology from 2006-2009. I was elected on the faculty (2006-2009) then served on the Council of the Royal College of Radiologists (2009-2012). In May 2011, I was appointed by GEC-ESTRO committee to chair the brachytherapy group for rectal and anal cancers (2011-2020). I was elected as the President of International Contact Radiotherapy Society (ICONE) in May 2013 and served until May 2018. I am the Lead clinician of Papillon Unit at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre which opened in June 2013. I was appointed as an expert adviser on radiotherapy with IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) imPACT (Integrated Mission for Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy) mission to Myanmar in November 2015 and December 2016. In recognition of my contributions to medicine and oncology I was awarded an Honorary Professor by the University of Liverpool in Dec, 2012. I was appointed by H.E. Minister of Health &Sports Dr Myint Htwe as his special adviser for oncology in Myanmar from July 2017.UK Papillon team led by me won the prestigious BMJ 'Cancer care team of the Year 'in 2018. In addition, I was awarded H2020 Marie Sklodowski-Curie Action Innovative Training Network [MSCA-ITN-2019 (857894)] CAST ( Active Monitoring of Cancer AS an AlTernative to Surgery) jointly with Prof Mark Pritchard. We will have two PhD students working on our Papillon data base until 2024. For my contributions to Oncology in Europe, I recieved a ESTRO 'Life time 'award at the ESTRO 2021 meeting in Madrid.

Research Overview
My research interest is in management of rectal cancer using contact X-ray brachytherapy (Papillon) as an alternative to exterpative surgery especially in patients not suitable for surgery. NICE has recommended CXB in the group (IPG 532,Sept 2015) and accepted its safety and efficacy. However, for younger patients NICE recommend a randomised trial to evaluate its efficacy.

We have successfully completed our European phase 3 randomised trial OPERA. We have randomised 148 patients above our target recruitment of 140 patients. I did oral presentation of the priliminary surgical salvage data of OPERA at the GI ASCO in Jan2021(JCO Volume 39, Issue 3:suppl 12-12)

We have now treated over 3000 patients and many with early staged rectal cancer were cured with good quality of life without the need for extirpative surgery and stoma. We have now published a number of pivotal papers including, the latest one from our centre in Nice, in the European journal of Cancer 2018; 108:1-16.(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2018.11.022 ); papers from Clatterbridge in British Journal of Radiology (http://doi:10.1259/bjr.2017017) and another one in the prestigious Red Journal (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2017.10.022). Dr Amandeep Dhadda and his Papillon team has published their experience from the Castle Hill Centre, Hull, and a review and update on his published data Clin Oncol 2017; 29:198–204( http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clon.2016.09.014).

Although Papillon radiotherapy has been in use for more than 90 years, it is still not regarded as a standard of care in rectal cancer management. The OPERA (Organ Preservation in Early rectal Adenocarcinoma) has completed recruitment 18 montha ago and we hope to publish the mature data with median 36 months follow up in May of 2022. We hope this will change the way we treat rectal cancer in the future for patients who are fit but would like to defer it after their diagnosis. Our paper on patients treated with post-operative CXB following local excision as per CONTEM-1 protocols with some of the preliminary data on its long-term results has been published last year in Colorectal Disease. (https://doi:10.1111/codi.14584).

I was a member of NCRI anal and rectal group from 1995-2012. I was a member of ESTRO from 1985 and chaired the GEC ESTRO anal and rectal sub group from 2011-2019.

I was awarded H2020 Marie Sklodowski-Curie Action Innovative Training Network [MSCA-ITN-2019 (857894)] CAST ( Active Monitoring of Cancer AS an AlTernative to Surgery) jointly with Prof Mark Pritchard. We will have two PhD students working on our Papillon data base until 2024. There are 14 ESR groups in our consortium and we collaborate in research on 'Active monitoring of rectal cancer as an alternative to surgery'.

I was the past president (2013- 2018) of International Contact Radiotherapy Network (ICONE) . International experts on CXB meets annually and we set up international collborative group known as ICONE in 2006 at Nice meeting .