David Thomson

David Thomson is a Professor of Clinical Oncology with a substantial national and international reputation in head and neck cancer. He qualified from Oxford University Medical School in 2004 with a First Class Honours degree and later completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) research degree at the University of Manchester.

Professor Thomson is an Honorary MAHSC Chair and Professor of Clinical Oncology at the University of Manchester, as well as an Honorary Clinical Professor of Oncology at the University of Liverpool. He is the Clinical Lead for Head and Neck Cancer for NHS Greater Manchester (since 2018) and also leads the head and neck oncology team at The Christie.

He has been an invited expert reviewer for both the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and led the ESTRO international consensus guidance on the management of head and neck cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a member of NHS England’s national proton commissioning panels for head and neck cancer and exceptional indications.

In addition to his clinical leadership, Professor Thomson is the NHS Greater Manchester Cancer Clinical Lead for Research and serves as Chief Investigator for several major late-phase, multi-centre clinical trials in head and neck cancer. His clinical practice focuses on the delivery of highly precise radiotherapy, proton beam therapy, and systemic drug treatments.

Professor Thomson has delivered numerous invited lectures internationally and has published extensively in high-impact journals, including The Lancet Oncology and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has also served as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.