Gareth Thomas, BDS, MScD, PhD, FDSRCS, FRCPath

Gareth Thomas trained in head and neck pathology and undertook his PhD (in integrin-dependent tumour cell motility) at University College London and St Thomas Hospital, London, and worked at Bart’s Cancer Institute before moving to the University of Southampton as Chair of Experimental Pathology in 2009. His lab focuses on the role of the tumour microenvironment in promoting tumour progression, investigating interactions between different cell types, particularly the cancer-associated fibroblasts – examining mechanisms of differentiation, heterogeneity of phenotype and functional effect on anti-tumour immunity. This work has a strong translational component, identifying potential prognostic biomarkers, therapeutic targets and molecular classifiers in cancer tissues, and developing of immunotherapy clinical trials in head and neck cancer.