Alvin Lee

Dr Alvin Lee is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust where he also serves as skin cancer clinical research lead. He is also a Medical Lead at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Centre for Drug Development where he helps guide the development of new cancer therapies. He sees patients privately and specialises in melanoma.

He read preclinical medicine and natural sciences at the University of Cambridge. He completed his clinical training at University College London (UCL) as a graduate of the elite MB PhD programme. His doctoral research in drug resistance mechanisms in cancer won the UCL MB PhD Cordwainers’ Prize for best PhD thesis.

He completed his oncology training within the University College London rotations and gained translational research experience in Cambridge, Oxford and London including a clinical postdoctoral fellowship at the Francis Crick Institute.

In addition to GMC Specialist Registration in Medical Oncology, he has the European Society for Medical Oncology ESMO certification in Medical Oncology. He has postgraduate certifications (PG Cert) in Genomic Medicine from Imperial College London and his other postgraduate certifications are in Oncology, Clinical Research and Medical Education. As a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP Glasg, Edin), the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), and the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), he operates at the highest level of clinical and scientific recognition.

Dr Lee’s work focuses on the translation of discovery science into cancer treatments. He is dedicated to the advancement of precision oncology, utilising his extensive background in genomics and cancer immunology with clinical leadership to optimise patient care and shape contemporary oncology treatments.

At CRUK, he has an active role in providing medical leadership for oncology clinical trials. He is also a member of the oncology expert group for the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, helping to shape policy at the intersection of oncology and pharmaceutical medicine.

His research interests, developed through doctoral and postdoctoral research at the Franics Crick Institute and UCL Cancer Institute, centre on mechanisms of therapeutic resistance and cancer immunology. Having worked under the mentorship of global leaders in the field, he has extensive publications including in high-impact journals such as the Lancet and Cancer Discovery. He is current lead author for BMJ Best Practice Melanoma.