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Prof David Walker

Name

Prof. David Walker

Qualifications

BMedSci, BMBS, FRCP, FRCPCH

Position

Professor of Paediatric Oncology

School/Division

Child Health

Contact

Phone: +44 (0) 115 823 0632
Fax: +44 (0) 115 823 0626
Email: david.walker@nottingham.ac.uk
Web: http://www.cbtrc.org/david_walker

Research interests

Research into children’s cancer with a particular interest in brain tumours under the following themes:

 

Developmental neuro-oncology

Clinical observation of disease processes affected by development focuses research upon those aspects of the brain's and the tumour's behaviour which may be determined by the normal processes of human development.

 

Clinical Trials

Initiation and conduct of clinical trials of novel therapies in collaboration with the Children’s Cancer & Leukaemia Group (CCLG), Societe Internationale Oncologie Pediatrique (SIOP) and the Children’s Cancer Group (CCG) in the United States. I am particularly involved in the development of new trials in brain tumours over the past 15 years as well as the process of cancer registration on a national basis.

 

Measuring health outcomes

The evaluation for clinical research of health outcomes in the childhood and adolescent population using questionnaire-based technology applicable across age groups with particular interest in health related quality of life, measurement of acquired brain injury and visual outcomes.

 

Health services research

Research for the re-structuring of clinical pathways to optimise diagnosis, enhanced multi-disciplinary team working, cancer registration, clinical trials recruitment, and biological sample collection in order to support integrated research with clinical practice.

 

Drug delivery

Over half of all children's cancers require specific treatment to the brain whether it be chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery.  The successful treatment of brain tumours, 25% of all children's cancers, is totally reliant upon the effective and safe delivery of treatments to the brain and spinal cord.  The careful design of drug delivery mechanisms is a special field of neuroscience expertise in Nottingham through the work of Mr Michael Vloeberghs and Dr Martin Garnett.  My role as the chemotherapist is to assist with the prioritisation of drugs for testing via newly proposed methods of delivery

 

 

Recent publications

Meng W, Kallinteri P, Walker DA, Parker TL, Garnett MC (2007). Evaluation of poly(glycerol–adipate) nanoparticle uptake in an in vitro 3-D brain tumor co-culture model. Experimental Biology and Medicine 232: 1100-1108.

 

Grundy R, Wilne S, Weston C, Robinson K, Lashford L, Ironside J, et al

(2007). Primary post-operative chemotherapy without radiotherapy for intracranial ependymoma in children: the UKCCSG/SIOP prospective study. Lancet Oncology. 8:696-705.

 

Wilne S, Collier J, Kennedy C, Koller K, Grundy R, Walker D (2007). Presentation of childhood CNS tumours: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Oncology 8:685-95.

 

Hyatt MA, Gopalakrishnan GS, Bispham J, Gentili S, IMcMillen IC, Rhind SM, Rae MT, Kyle CE, Brooks AN, Jones C, Budge H, Walker D, Stephenson T and Symonds ME(2007). Maternal nutrient restriction in early pregnancy programs hepatic mRNA expression of growth-related genes and liver size in adult male sheep. Journal of Endocrinology 192, 87–97.

 

Hyatt MA, Melanie A, Budge H, Walker D, Stephenson T and Symonds ME (2007). Effects of maternal parity and late gestational nutrition on mRNA abundance for growth factors in the liver of postnatal sheep. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 292(5), R1934-42.

 

Meng W, Parker TL, Kallinteri P, Walker DA, Higgins S, Hutcheon GA and Garnett MC (2006). Uptake and metabolism of novel biodegradable poly(glycerol-adipate) nanoparticles in DAOY monolayer .  Journal of Controlled Release 116(3), 314-321.