Dr Naureen Starling is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, specialising in the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer within the Division of Clinical Studies at The Institute of Cancer Research.
Dr Starling graduated from University College London with First Class Honours in Physiology (BSc) and distinctions in Clinical Pharmacology/Therapeutics and Pathology. She undertook general medical training at University College Hospital and Northwick Park and St Marks’s hospitals, and specialist training in Medical Oncology at The Royal Marsden. Her postgraduate degree at the ICR focused on the genomics and therapeutics of oesophageal cancer.
Her research interests in GI cancers (oesophageal, gastric, pancreatic, neuroendocrine and colorectal) are focussed on earlier phase clinical trials, novel therapeutics and the delivery of individualised medicine to patients with gastrointestinal cancers. She has been and is currently the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials of novel drugs in gastrointestinal cancer. She is a member of several national and international multi-centre clinical steering, trial management and safety review committees. Dr Starling has been a lead or co-applicant on several successful peer-reviewed research grant applications.
She is the Associate Director of Clinical Research and Clinical Lead for the Royal Marsden’s West Wing Clinical Research Centre. She serves on the UK National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) oesophago-gastric sub-group. She has acted as a clinical expert in oesophago-gastric cancer for NICE (guideline committee and technology appraisal) and is an upper GI expert for International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. She is a Trustee for Pancreatic Cancer UK and a member of the EORTC General Assembly representing The Royal Marsden. She is also a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Gastrointestinal Faculty.
Dr Starling also holds educational roles including the NIHR Training Lead for NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, member of the Cancer Research Centre of Excellence training committee, Deputy Training Program Director (one of three) for South London Medical Oncology Training, member of the pan-London specialist Medical oncology training committee and member of the Medical Oncology National Recruitment steering committee.
Dr Starling is a member of the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre, which brings together leading researchers in engineering, physical sciences, life sciences and medicine to develop innovative ways to address challenges in cancer.