Gerhardt Attard, MD, PhD
The Institute for Cancer Research - London, UK

Dr. Attard achieved his MD at the University of Malta, and obtained his Membership in the Royal College of Physicians in the UK soon after. He is currently an academic clinical lecturer at the Institute of Cancer Research/Royal Marsden. He stresses the importance of his mentor, Dr. Johann De Bono, in sharing the same views on the prostate cancer research efforts in the UK.

Dr. Attard became involved in prostate cancer research due to the personal experience of losing his grandfather to colorectal cancer. After his residency in internal medicine, he moved to the Royal Marsden Hospital and was awarded a fellowship in the drug development unit. He felt that the research efforts in the UK focused on improving the outcome of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer were less than they should be given the extent and severity of the disease. As a result, Dr. Attard began his studies for a lab-based PhD, so that he could study prostate cancer in greater depth and focus on the development of more effective treatments for prostate cancer.

Aside from his PCF Young Investigator Award, he has received several accolades including an ASCO Foundation Merit Award (2007 and 2006), an ASCO/ASTRO/SUO Merit Award (2007), the British Prostate Group Eagle Bequest Travel Award (2007), an AACR Scholar-In-Training Award (2006 and 2009) and an ESMO Annual Meeting Best Abstract Award (2007).  He also sat on the executive committee of the British Prostate Group. His works have appeared in 20 original articles and 13 reviews. He has given seven oral presentations, and participated in many poster discussions and presentations, presenting his cancer research around the world.

Dr. Attard also lectures on the ICR Oncology MSc course for Specialist Registrars and the Royal Marsden NHS BSc course for nurses. He still finds time for some fun outdoors and spends his spare time snowboarding, windsurfing and sailing. He enjoys family time, and his personal ties to his late grandfather continue to motivate him to find a cure for prostate cancer.