Doctor wins prestigious award in recognition of research to help cancer patients
Posted 17th October 2018
Dr Anna Olsson-Brown has been awarded the prestigious John Littler Medal 2018 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to patient care and innovation.
Now in its second year, the award is bestowed in memory of Dr John Littler, the highly regarded and much loved consultant oncologist at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre who passed away in 2014.
Dr Olsson-Brown, pictured below, received the medal in recognition of the research she is undertaking into the side effects of immunotherapy treatment.
Patients receiving the drugs can suffer a variety of issues from skin itching and fatigue, to joint problems like arthritis.
Dr Olsson-Brown’s work is transforming the way these side effects are being assessed and managed, ultimately getting patients back into treatment more quickly.
Her work is transforming the way these side effects are managed, to help improve the way the toxicity is handled by staff, ultimately helping patients who are receiving these drugs.
She said: “It is a massive honour to receive this award. John was hugely respected not only for being an amazing oncologist but also a brilliant teacher, so I am thrilled to be given an award in his name.”
Dr Olsson-Brown, 34, has been a registrar at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for five years and is also a Research Fellow at The University of Liverpool, giving her a unique insight into all aspects of cancer treatment.
It is this combination of treating patients and research that earned her the nomination for the award.
The judging panel said: “We chose Anna Olsson-Brown as we felt that she demonstrated novelty in her research work that had been ongoing over time. “The work had great impact on patients as the research is involved in reducing toxicities, patient safety and improved outcomes and high quality care.
“We felt that she was an excellent nominee and fitted the criteria to receive the medal with a good and substantial body of work and compassionate patient care.”
Dr Olsson-Brown, who is married and has two children, said that during her early career she had always wanted to return to Merseyside, where she went to medical school, to treat cancer patients.
She added: “I think working in this area is an honour. The patients are amazing and being able to combine treating these brilliant people with research is great.
“The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is putting a lot of effort into supporting registrars like myself who are doing research and that is really encouraging.”
Dr Olsson-Brown is a key part of the development of the immunotherapy service at Clatterbridge.
She said: “The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is at the forefront of providing an immunotherapy service both in the way we provide the treatment and in the ways we are working to monitor toxicity.
“We are going to be able to monitor the toxicity better and get patients affected back into treatment quicker. This will make our service different in terms of recognition of toxicity and treatment.”
The other nominees who went forward for final judging were: Shauna Nic A Baird, Sam Jones and Joachim Chan.
