Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, is a modern institute built on more than nine centuries of medical practice and education.
Barts Cancer Institute was established in 2004 as part of Queen Mary University of London’s vision to bring together some of London’s leading cancer research teams within a single institute. By uniting expertise across discovery science, translational research and clinical practice, the institute was designed to accelerate progress in understanding and treating cancer.
This vision was driven by Professor Sir Nicholas Wright, Warden of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (now known as Queen Mary Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry), together with Queen Mary’s Principal, Sir Adrian Smith, and the medical school’s Chief Operating Officer, Peter Davies.
Professor Nick Lemoine served as the founding Director of Barts Cancer Institute, supported by Deputy Director Professor Ian Hart and Institute Manager Dr Delphine Purves. Together, they helped establish the institute’s collaborative culture and strong foundations for research, education and clinical partnership. Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke has served as the institute’s Deputy Director since 2012, and our current Director, Professor Nitzan Rosenfeld, joined in 2024.
Top: Charterhouse Square Campus in spring time. Bottom, left to right: Professor Nick Lemoine (BCI Director until 2024), Professor Ian Hart (Deputy Director until 2012), Dr Delphine Purves (BCI Institute Manager until 2025), Professor Sir Nick Wright, (Medical School Warden) and Peter Davies (Medical School Chief Operating Officer).
As part of Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, we are proud to be a part of a long heritage of cancer research, education and care dating back more than 900 years.
St Bartholomew’s Hospital (Barts) is one of the oldest and most distinguished hospitals in the world, with over 900 years of patient care and research on the same site – the longest legacy of any hospital in England.
The Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital was formally recognised after governors agreed for a dedicated lecture theatre to be built on site (though evidence of medical training at Barts dates back more than a hundred years before this point). The medical college went on to provide excellence in medical care, teaching and research.
Westfield College, one of the founding entities that formed Queen Mary University of London, was established as a residential college for women. It was the first such college in London, and one of only four in the UK that was open for women in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The People’s Palace Technical Schools were opened by Queen Victoria in 1887. Offering evening classes, a library, reading rooms and social activities, it provided education to people from all backgrounds and promoted diversity as “a place where people of all classes and conditions congregate”. The schools were renamed to East London Technical College in 1896 and to Queen Mary College in 1934 (named after Mary of Teck, wife of King George V).
The ICRF Medical Oncology Unit was formed after the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) endowed a chair of Medical Oncology within the Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The unit’s inaugural chair was Professor Gordon Hamilton Fairley, a highly respected figure in the field and the UK’s first official professor of medical oncology.
Queen Mary College merges with Westfield College to become Queen Mary and Westfield College.
The Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital merged with London Hospital Medical College (another respected London medical school, founded in 1785) to form Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. The combined colleges were incorporated into Queen Mary and Westfield College, renamed in 2000 to Queen Mary University of London. Today, the medical school is known as Queen Mary’s Faculty for Medicine and Dentistry.
The Barts Cancer Institute was established within Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. Queen Mary’s leadership built the institute around the strengths of the existing ICRF Medical Oncology Unit (which today is our Centre for Haemato-Oncology) and recruited additional cancer research talent from across the capital to complete the institute as we know it today.
The BCI gained CRUK Centre status – the first of its kind in London – awarded to regional hubs of Cancer Research Excellence. This provided important infrastructure funding, supporting the training, technical facilities and collaborative working across the BCI, Wolfson Institute and Barts Hospital.
BCI joined forces with UCL, King’s College London and the Francis Crick Institute to form the CRUK City of London Major Centre, a world-class hub for biotherapeutics research.
We published two special books for our 10-year and 20-year anniversaries, covering the history of the ICRF Medical Oncology Unit and of the BCI. You can download and read them for free below, or get in touch with us if you would like to acquire a physical copy.
Volume 1: Every Rational Attempt
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The ICRF Medical Oncology Unit at St Bartholomew’s Hospital played a formative role in shaping modern cancer medicine in the UK. Established in 1970 under Professor Gordon Hamilton Fairley—the country’s first Professor of Medical Oncology—and Sir Ronald Bodley Scott, the Unit brought clinicians and scientists together to study cancer and test new treatments with patients.
The Unit was also notable for its collaborative culture, contributing to national clinical trial groups, and introducing coordinated multidisciplinary teamworking long before it became the norm. Its legacy continues through the Centre for Haemato-Oncology within the Barts Cancer Institute.
As Professor of Medical Oncology at Barts, Gordon Hamilton Fairley made a significant contribution to chemotherapy and was a pioneer in the field of immunotherapy. Fairley completed his medical training at Barts in 1954 and became Director of the newly created Medical Oncology Research Unit at Barts in 1970. Tragically, his life was cut short at the age of 45 by the detonation of a terrorist bomb intended for his neighbour. The BCI commemorates his life with the Gordon Hamilton Fairley Lecture & Medal, awarded to those with an outstanding and distinguished career in the field of cancer research.
Previous winners include:
