Dr Simon Newman, our new appointment
An academic with a background in cancer drug discovery projects is joining The Brain Tumour Charity as Chief Scientific Officer from Monday 19 February 2024.
Dr Simon Newman has a PhD in Biochemistry and 30 years’ experience in life sciences research. He joins The Charity from University College London’s Translational Research Office.
Prior to that he was the Director of Research at Target Ovarian Cancer, CSO at Nanogenics – a biotechnology company developing novel platforms for gene therapy delivery – and he led research at Imperial College London.
He has contributed to more than 60 peer-reviewed papers and played a key role in developing the potential cancer treatment drug Irosustat.
Throughout my career I have always been passionate about translating discovery science into clinical benefit. As scientists we are privileged to be working at the cutting edge of research. However, what really matters is delivering improved outcomes for patients and their families.
Dr Simon Newman
I am now inspired to be part of the team tasked with delivering The Brain Tumour Charity’s ambitious goals of doubling survival and halving the harm brain tumours cause and I look forward to working with the whole community to deliver this.
Vital work
Dr Michele Afif, CEO at The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “I am delighted that Simon will be joining The Brain Tumour Charity. As a research-led organisation which has invested more than £38m into brain tumour-specific research and trials, I am excited about the extraordinary skills Simon will bring to our team and confident in his ability to take this vital work forward in our ceaseless pursuit of the new treatments our community so desperately needs.”
What does a CSO do?
Simon will be a member of our Senior Leadership Team, providing scientific leadership to The Charity and representing us in the neuro-oncology, research and scientific community as well as at relevant external strategic policy and sector meetings and conferences. His responsibilities include:
- Delivering our research strategy for 2022-2027, Accelerating a Cure
- Ensuring that the research we fund focuses on our strategic goals of doubling the survival rate and halving the harm that brain tumours have on quality of life.
- Concentrating on three priority areas:
- Creating new knowledge through investment in great research.
- In addition, the CSO will oversee our Data Team who harness the power of data to accelerate research, tackle inequality, inform change, empower the community, and maximise impact.
- Enabling more research to progress to the clinic by forming a Virtual Biotechnology platform to make treatment validation faster.
- Enhancing quality of life by ensuring that evidence-based supportive care is embedded into standard care.