Rate My Professor Iain McNeish

Professor Iain McNeish serves as Chair in Oncology and Head of the Division of Cancer within the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, part of the Faculty of Medicine. He is co-director of the School of Convergence Science - Health and Technology and Director of the Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre, incorporating the Vivienne Wohl Unit. Prior to his appointment at Imperial in 2018, McNeish held the position of Professor of Gynaecological Oncology at the University of Glasgow. He qualified in medicine and pursued a PhD at the University of Birmingham's Institute for Cancer Studies from 1995 to 1998. McNeish is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) and one of a small number of UK medical oncologists combining clinical practice with translational research.

McNeish's academic interests focus on ovarian cancer, particularly high-grade serous ovarian cancer, encompassing genomic landscapes, mutational stability at relapse, tumour microenvironment dynamics, and personalised treatment strategies. He leads the BriTROC research team, funded by Ovarian Cancer Action, investigating precision medicine for relapsed disease. Notable publications include 'Rethinking ovarian cancer II: reducing mortality from high-grade serous ovarian cancer' (International Journal of Cancer, 2010), 'The copy number and mutational landscape of recurrent ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma' (2023), 'PTEN Loss Shapes Macrophage Dynamics in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer' (Cancer Research, 2024), and 'RAS/PI3K pathway mutations sensitise epithelial ovarian cancer cells to a PARP/NAMPT inhibitor combination' (Communications Biology, 2026). His contributions extend to studies on neoantigens, STING pathway activation, and DNA topology in ovarian cancer. McNeish was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2022 and appointed an NIHR Senior Investigator. He co-leads the Imperial Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, participates in the EU DISARM project on antimicrobial resistance, and supports clinician-scientist training programmes.