Rate My Professor Steve Clifford

Professor Steve Clifford serves as Chair of Molecular Paediatric Oncology and Director of the Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, where he leads a team of 25 scientists and clinicians specializing in childhood brain tumour research. With 31 years of experience in cancer research, he obtained his PhD in cancer research from Newcastle University in 1991, followed by postdoctoral training at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. In 2000, he returned to Newcastle to found the Paediatric Brain Tumour Research Group, which has evolved into an internationally renowned program focused primarily on medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumour in children, as well as other embryonal brain tumours such as atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumours (ATRT). His research investigates the biological mechanisms driving these diseases using advanced genomic profiling, biomarker discovery, functional studies, and clinical trials infrastructure to develop superior diagnostics, prognostic tools, risk-stratified treatments, and personalized therapies.

Professor Clifford's team has delivered seminal discoveries that established the molecular subtyping foundational to the World Health Organization classifications of medulloblastoma in 2016 and 2021. They operate the UK National Reference Centre for Medulloblastoma, providing molecular diagnostics to every diagnosed patient nationwide to optimize treatment selection and trial access. He has driven pioneering biomarker-guided clinical trials, including SIOP-PNET5-MB and HR-MB regimens across Europe via SIOP-Europe and the Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer consortium, while contributing to national groups such as the Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group and the National Cancer Research Institute. Funded by programme grants from Cancer Research UK, Children with Cancer UK, CCLG/The Little Princess Trust, and Children’s Cancer North, his scholarship encompasses over 125 peer-reviewed publications garnering more than 23,000 citations. Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2021 (FMedSci) and holding FRCPCH, he advises The Brain Tumour Charity, Singapore’s National Medical Research Council, and France’s National Cancer Institute, supervises PhD and MD trainees, delivers undergraduate cancer education, and trustees a paediatric oncology outreach initiative in Malawi.