Dawn Carnell

Dr Dawn Carnell is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist based at University College Hospital, London, where she serves as Clinical Lead for lung cancer and Lead Consultant Clinical Oncologist for head and neck cancer. She trained at the Royal Free Hospital in London and, after completing her MRCP, undertook oncology training at the Royal Marsden and Middlesex/University College Hospitals.

Her formal research was carried out at Mount Vernon Hospital, where she investigated hypoxia in cancer and methods of mapping low oxygen regions histologically and using Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Magnetic Resonance Imaging, with the aim of directing radiation boosts to radio-resistant hypoxic tumour areas and identifying hypoxic tumours for targeted treatments to improve cure rates.

Dr Carnell is the principal investigator for the PET-NECK trial, which explores the role of early PET scanning to guide post-radiation surgery, and she is also involved in research on the use of respiratory gating in lung cancer. Her clinical interests include head and neck cancer, lung cancer, nasal and sinus tumours, and general ENT and maxillofacial oncology, with particular expertise in radiotherapy, chemotherapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy, concurrent chemoradiation protocols, and molecular targeted treatments. Alongside her clinical and research work, Dr Carnell is actively involved in teaching and is one of the Lead Clinicians for medical student teaching in the Head and Neck, Lung and CNS group, as well as contributing regularly to registrar education within oncology and ENT.