Cancer survivor Darth Vader backs campaign

At the Royal Marsden in Sutton, South London, with the new Philips Achieva 3.0T MRI scanner (from left) are cancer centre co-director Professor Martin Leach, cervical cancer survivor Michelle Stepney, prostate cancer survivor and Darth Vader actor David Prowse, cancer centre co-director Professor Nandita deSouza and ICR chief executive Professor Peter Rigby.

A cervical cancer survivor and her twin daughters who are alive due to modern imaging technology helped launch a new £13 million facility set up to further improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Darth Vader actor David Prowse, who recently finished treatment for prostate cancer, also supported the launch of The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust’s new initiative.

The Cancer Research UK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre at the ICR aims to diagnose cancers earlier, get a better understanding of how tumours develop and ultimately could speed up the process of new drug development.

The procurement of an MRI scanner was co-ordinated through the Wellcome Trust with funding from the Medical Research Council, The Wolfson Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research.

Trials at the Marsden site in Sutton, Surrey, are already planned for the machine, involving patients with prostate, brain, cervical and breast cancers.

See the full report on page 26 of the September 2009 issue of RAD Magazine.