Southampton Professor to lead national cancer programme

Professor Peter Johnson has been appointed National Clinical Director for Cancer at NHS England and Improvement.

As National Clinical Director, Peter will chair the clinical group which is part of our governance structure for the National Cancer Programme.  He will play a central role ensuring we continue to have strong clinical input into key projects such as Rapid Diagnostic Centres and the Faster Diagnosis Standard.

He will also support Cancer Alliance Clinical Chairs to implement the ambitions of the Long-Term Plan for cancer across England.

Professor Johnson will continue to lead the Southampton CRUK Centre, work within the Centre for Cancer Immunology and to work clinically in the lymphoma service at UHS.

He said: “There is a lot to do in cancer services: we need to make sure we diagnose and treat cancer faster, and we need to make sure we have the right workforce to deliver the improvements that people expect to see.  I am looking forward to being part of the national team at NHSE while continuing to lead our CRUK Centre in Southampton, where we have such exciting research programmes developing new ways to understand and treat some of the most difficult cancers.”

Cally Palmer, National Cancer Director, NHS Cancer Programme, said: “Peter is a highly-regarded clinical researcher in the field of oncology. I am really pleased to be able to welcome such a distinguished clinical and research leader from the world of cancer to the NHS Cancer Programme.”