Research

My research interests include:

• Population based genetic testing for cancer prevention
• Development and implementation of a population based risk stratification approach for prediction and prevention of gynaecological cancers
• Targeted surgical strategies for prevention of tubal/ovarian cancer: risk reducing salpingo-oophorectomy, opportunistic salpingectomy, early salpingectomy and delayed oophorectomy
• Genetic testing of population based ovarian and endometrial cancer case series for guiding ascertainment of high risk genes, precision medicine and cancer prevention
• Health Economic aspects of population testing and precision prevention
• Familial ovarian and endometrial cancer screening
• Management of familial gynaecological cancer such as: breast and/or ovarian cancer families, Lynch Syndrome; Cowden’s Syndrome
• Gynaecological Oncology Training; Role and importance of accredited training

Other Activities

• NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) Fellow - 2019
• Member Steering Committee: International Gynecological Cancer Society (IGCS) Gynecologic Oncology Unit Certificate Program - 2019
• Associate Editor Trials & Overseas Editor Indian Journal of Gynecologic Oncology- 2019
• Member Editorial Board International Journal of Gynecological Cancer 2018-
• Academic Training Programme Director for North Central and North East London, London Specialty School of Obs & Gynae, Health Education England, Aug 2018-
• Deputy Director Gynaecological oncology RCOG training programme Barts Health, 2017-
• Mentor on the IGCS Gynecologic Oncology Global Curriculum & Mentorship Program, 2018-
• Member International Gynecological Cancer Society (IGCS) Education Steering Committee
• Member British Gynecological Cancer Society (BGCS) International Subcommittee
• Scientific advisor and Chair Independent Advisory Committee Mermaid Project, Denmark
• London Deanery lead for RCOG Advanced Profession Module (APM) in Clinical Research, North & North-East London, Dec 2017-
• IGCS Gynaecological oncology Online Global network Moderator, 2018-
• Lead Women’s Precision Medicine Cancer Prevention Service, Barts Health NHS Trust, 2014-
• Member UKCTOCS Trial Outcomes Committee, 2016-
• Member Surgical Working Group, NCRI Ovarian Cancer Subgroup, 2016-
• Chair London Cancer High risk Gynaecological Oncology MDT, 2016-
• Chair Gynaecological Oncology Trials Group, Barts Health, Bart’s Cancer Institute, 2015-
• Scientific advisor BRCA Umbrella, 2014-
• Member ESGO Task Force: Prevention, Early diagnosis of Women Cancers (ENPIGO): 2014-
• President ENYGO (European Network of Young Gynaecological Oncologists): 2011 – 2013
• ESGO (European Society Gynaecological Oncology) Council member Sep 2011 - Oct 2013
• Organisation of a number of national and international meetings and workshops

Major Funding

• 2019- NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellowship, £20,000 annually
• 2019-2023- Cancer Research UK, Targeting the innate immune system in high grade serous ovarian cancer (Canbuild). Role- Co-investigator, £1.95M
• 2019-2022- Barts Charity, Barts Cancer Centre Grant: Cancer Prevention & Risk Management Theme. Role- Co-applicant, £1.8M   
• 2017-2021-Barts Charity, PROTECTOR (Preventing Ovarian Cancer through early Excision of Tubes and late Ovarian Removal) study. Role- CI, £368,142
• 2017-2020- UKIERI, UK India Education Research Initiative, Dept Science & Technology (India), Investigating BRCAness in epithelial ovarian cancer in India to develop stratified surgical & chemotherapy options. Role- Co-investigator, Partner. £194,405
• 2016-2019- Cancer Research UK, Developing Core Outcomes Sets to standardise reporting in endometrial cancer & atypical endometrial hyperplasia. Role- Co-investigator, £163,790
• 2016-2019- Barts Charity, Systematic genetic testing for ovarian cancer. Role- CI, £178,000
• 2016-2018- The Eve Appeal, Evaluating cost-effectiveness of population based approaches to genetic testing for ovarian/breast cancer gene mutations in the general population. Role - CI, £77,340
• 2011-2019- CRUK & The Eve appeal, PROMISE 2016 Programme. Role - Co-investigator; £3.26M
• 2008-2019- The Eve Appeal, Genetic Cancer Prediction through population Screening (GCaPPS). Acting CI; £561,523

Recent Publications

Cytoreduction surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer: cohort study from UK tertiary centre Phadnis S, Selek S, Farrag A et al. BJOG-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY (2021) 128(11) 58-59
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000658194000097&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=612ae0d773dcbdba3046f6df545e9f6a

Corrigendum to “Pathological chemotherapy response score is prognostic in tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data” Gynecol. Oncol. 154 (2019) 441–448 (Gynecologic Oncology (2019) 154(2) (441–448), (S0090825819311813), (10.1016/j.ygyno.2019.04.679)) Cohen PA, Powell A, Böhm S et al. Gynecologic Oncology (2021) 161(7) 328-329

Attitudes towards risk-reducing early salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy for ovarian cancer prevention: a cohort study Gaba F, Blyuss O, Chandrasekaran D et al. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2021) 128(7) 714-726

Concise Reporting of Benign Endometrial Biopsies is an Acceptable Alternative to Descriptive Reporting. Kriplani D, Olivar AA, Tchrakian N et al. Int J Gynecol Pathol (2021) (2)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33664191

Preventing Ovarian Cancer through early Excision of Tubes and late Ovarian Removal (PROTECTOR): Protocol for a prospective non-randomised multi-center trial Gaba F, Robbani S, Singh N et al. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer (2021) 31(7) 286-291

British Gynaecological Cancer Society/British Association of Gynaecological Pathology consensus for germline and tumour testing for BRCA1/2 variants in ovarian cancer in the United Kingdom Sundar S, Manchanda R, Gourley C et al. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer (1)

Ovarian cancer population screening and mortality after long-term follow-up in the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS): a randomised controlled trial Menon U, Gentry-Maharaj A, Burnell M et al. The Lancet (2021) (7)

Surgical decision making in premenopausal BRCA carriers considering risk-reducing early salpingectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy: A qualitative study Gaba F, Goyal S, Marks D et al. Journal of Medical Genetics (2021) (7)

401 Population testing and personalised ovarian cancer risk prediction for risk adapted targeted prevention Gaba F, Blyuss O, Sanderson S et al. (2020) (10) a93.1-a9a93

505 Attitudes towards risk reducing early salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy for ovarian cancer prevention: a cohort study Gaba F, Blyuss O, Legood R et al. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer (2020) 30(10) a93-a94

Team

Senior Research Fellow
Li Sun

Clinical Trials Coordinator
Sadiyah Robbani

PhD Students
Ms Dhivya Chandrasekaran, Ms Faiza Gaba

Biography

I joined Barts Cancer Institute as a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist in June 2015. I was awarded an NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellowship in March 2019. 

I previously worked as a Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital (2014- 2015) & an Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London, UK.

I completed a PhD in gynaecological oncology at UCL, along with a NIHR ACL Fellowship and subspecialty training in gynaecological oncology from UCLH and Bart's Hospital. I have served as the president of the European Network of young Gynaecological Oncologists (ENYGO) and a member of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) council (2011-2013).

I am co-Lead for the Prevention Theme at the CRUK Barts Centre. I chair the Gynecological Oncology clinical trials group at Barts & Queen Mary University of London and am Co-PI of the BCI Gynae Tissue Bank. I am a member of the NCRI Ovarian Cancer Surgical Sub group. I am Acting-PI, research lead of the GCaPPS (Genetic Cancer Prediction through Population Screening) trial; CI on PROTECTOR (Preventing Ovarian Cancer through early Excision of Tubes and late Ovarian Removal) trial, the PROMISE Pilot Study (Feasibility of population-based risk prediction and stratification for targeted ovarian cancer prevention), and the SIGNPOST (SystematIc GeNetic testing for Personalised Ovarian cancer Therapy) study. I am a co-investigator of the ‘Predicting Risk of Ovarian Malignancy, Improving Screening and Early detection’ (PROMISE) 2016 programme, member of the ALDO (Avoiding Late Diagnosis of Ovarian cancer) and UKFOCSS (UK Familial Ovarian Cancer Screening Study) teams. I lead the Bart's Hospital High risk Precision Medicine and Cancer Prevention Clinical service and Chair the London Cancer high-risk gynaecological cancer MDT. I am scientific advisor to BRCA Umbrella and Chair the Independent Advisory Committee of the Mermaid Project (Demark).

I am actively involved in gynaecological oncology training issues, have helped develop and establish ENYGO (European Network of Young Gynaecological Oncologists) from its inception and both led and undertaken a number of initiatives for European and International trainees in gynaecological oncology. I am the Integrated Academic Training Programme Director and lead for the RCOG Advanced Professional Module (APM) in Clinical Research for North Central and North East London, London Specialty School of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. I am the deputy director of the Barts Health RCOG gynaecological oncology training programme and Mentor for the IGCS Gynecologic Oncology Global Curriculum & Mentorship Program. I am a member of the International Gynecological Cancer Society (IGCS) Education Steering Committee, the British Gynecological Cancer Society (BGCS) International Subcommittee.

Previous posts

• March 2014-May 2015 - Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist at Barts Hospital & Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London.
• Feb 2010-Feb 2014 - NIHR Walport Clinical Lecturer & Sub-Specialty trainee Gynaecological Oncology (University College London Hospital, Bart’s Hospital, University College London)
• Feb 2007-Jan 2010 - Clinical Research Fellow, Gynaecological Oncology (University College London)
• Sep 2001-Jan 2007 - Specialist Registrar Obstetrics & Gynaecology East of England Training Programme (Cambridge rotation)
• July 2000-July 2001 - Indian Council Medical Research Fellowship, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India
• July 1993-Oct 1999 - Junior and Senior Resident Obstetrics & Gynaecology (6 year training programme), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India

Education & Qualifications

• 2014- CCT in Gynaecological Oncology and CCT in Obstetrics & Gynaecology
• 2014- BSCCP accreditation in Colposcopy: BSCCP
• 2013- PhD (Gynaecological Oncology): University College London, UK
• 2011- NIHR Leadership Programme for Trainees: Ashridge Business School, UK
• 2005- MRCOG : Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG), UK
• 1996- MD (Obstetrics & Gynaecology): All India Institute of medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, India
• 1993- M.B.B.S : All India Institute of medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, India