Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has been named in the Evening Standard’s The Progress 1000 list of the most influential people in London.
The Progress 1000 celebrates London’s most influential people, highlighting those driving progress and innovation in the capital.
A star-studded ceremony to announce the list took place on Wednesday 7 September at the Science Museum in London, with the ICR represented alongside leaders from across business, politics, sport, culture and science.
Professor Workman’s inclusion in this year’s list recognises his outstanding track record in the discovery of new cancer drugs, and his role in providing strategic leadership to the whole field of cancer research.
Professor Workman entered this year’s list second only to Sir Paul Nurse in the Medicine section.
Sir Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, was also included on the Medicine list – hailed for his persuasive campaigning and political influence.
They were joined by ICR scientist Professor Nazneen Rahman, Head of the Division of Genetics and Epidemiology at the institute and Head of the Cancer Genetics Clinical Unit at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The Progress 1000 list describes her as 'one of the UK’s leading cancer researchers in breast, ovarian and childhood cancers'.
A successful and influential year
Professor Workman's citation recognises that it has been a successful year for him personally and a high-profile and influential one for the ICR.
In April, Professor Workman was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the greatest accolade in UK science. And in July the ICR launched a bold and ambitious new research strategy, aiming to tackle the major challenge of cancer’s complexity, evolution and drug resistance.
The ICR was also awarded a highly prestigious Regius Professorship by the Queen to mark her 90th birthday, in recognition of the quality of our research.
The Evening Standard also recognised Professor Workman’s role in driving forward plans to create The London Cancer Hub – an ambitious project eventually aiming to create one of the world’s top life-science campuses specialising in cancer research, healthcare, education and enterprise.
Professor Workman said: “It’s really wonderful to be named as one of the most influential Londoners for 2016, and more importantly to see the excellence of the ICR’s research and its impact on patients recognised in prestigious awards such as this.
“Our new research strategy is a bold statement about how we want to tackle the critical challenge of cancer evolution leading to resistance to treatment in cancer patients. So I’m especially pleased that our new approach to overcoming these problems is being so strongly supported.”