Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Working Group

The Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Working Group (EBCWG) is convened and chaired by Dr Toral Gathani. The group is multidisciplinary and includes academics and clinicians with an interest in health inequality research and public contributors. Membership is voluntary, non-remunerated and by invitation.

The aim of the EBCWG is to enhance breast cancer care and outcomes for all women, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Using their common interests and expertise in breast cancer and/or health inequalities, EBCWG members seek to:

focus their expertise on ethnicity and breast cancer research
share ideas and develop collaborations to widen expertise within the group as it develops
ensure the long-term sustainability of the group with respect to funding
develop and encourage diversity in PPIE activities.

meetings

November 2024

This two-day meeting included talks on the correlation between self-reported ethnicity and ancestry, emerging research areas in cancer health disparities and the challenges of diversity research in the national breast screening programme.

June 2024

This was a one-day meeting held at Green Templeton College. Topics discussed included use of social marketing to improve screening uptake in underserved groups and a presentation on cancer and emotional resilience from a patient representative.

September 2023

The inaugural meeting of the EBCWG was held over two days in Oxford. All members of the group gave short presentations on their work including improving diversity in clinical trials, diagnostic delays in different ethnic groups, and addressing diversity in Patient and Public Involvement groups.

group members

Dr Amish Acharya Amish is a surgical registrar at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and a scientific advisor at Imperial College London. He led a project in North-West London which aimed to use behaviour science-informed interventions to facilitate breast screening uptake amongst populations including underserved communities.	Dr Tanimola Martins Tanimola is a senior research fellow and lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School. His research aims to identify sociodemographic differences in primary care diagnosis of cancer, with the aim of addressing such inequalities.
Mrs Kudzai Chinjekure Kudzai is a research assistant at the University of Oxford on the Ethnicity and Breast Cancer project.	Dr Tanvi Rai Tanvi is a mixed methods researcher with a PhD in public health. She is a senior researcher at the University of Oxford with an interest in health inequalities.
Professor Ramsey Cutress Ramsey is Professor of Breast Surgery in Southampton, with research interests in the role of ethnicity, genetic predisposition, immunological and lifestyle factors in breast cancer outcomes.	Dr Fharat Raja Fharat is a consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospital (UCLH), and Royal Free Trust, specialising in breast cancer. She has been a clinical fellow for many years and she is the research lead and a principal investigator on several national and international trials. Fharat is also a trustee for the breast cancer charity 'Future Dreams'.
Dr Shoba Dawson Shoba is a senior research fellow in inclusive research at the University of Sheffield. She co-leads the Trial Forge Inclusive Research Centre (Sheffield) which aims to improve inclusivity in trials.	Professor Gillian Reeves Gill is a professor of epidemiology and Director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford. Her main research interests are the roles of hormonal and other risk factors in the development of female cancers. She is co-principal investigator of the Million Women Study.
Mrs Bep Dhaliwal Bep is a passionate patient advocate with lived experience of cancer. She has worked alongside charities and regional cancer leads to create greater engagement of cancer services for communities by sharing the patient and carer experience as well as working with clinicians to better understand and improve the patient experience.	Dr Nisha Sharma Nisha is an expert in breast screening, radiology and the use of AI in breast screening. She is a consultant radiologist at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Director of the Breast Screening Programme for Leeds and Wakefield.
Dr David Dodwell David is a senior breast oncologist and senior clinical research fellow with a number of research and governance interests. He works in the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group and the Benefits and Risks of Cancer Treatments Group in Oxford Population Health. He is the lead oncologist on the Sloane and NHS breast screening audits and co-lead for the national audits in primary and metastatic breast cancer.	Professor Sasha Shepperd Sasha is Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Oxford with an interest in health systems research.
Dr Marwa Elbasheer Marwa is a is a postdoctoral epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health. She works as a quantitative researcher on the Ethnicity and Breast Cancer project in the Cancer Epidemiology Unit. She is also a member of the epidemiology team within the UK Biobank.	Dr Matt Silver Matt is Associate Professor in genetic epidemiology with an interest in population genomics and epigenetics at the MRC Unit in The Gambia and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a former Lead Genomic Data Scientist for the Diverse Data Initiative at Genomics England.
Dr Toral Gathani Toral is an associate professor at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on ethnicity and breast cancer and she is Principal Investigator for the CRUK funded Ethnicity and Breast Cancer project. She is also Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.	Dr Siân Sweetland Siân is a senior statistical epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, working on various research projects within The Million Women Study .
Dr Yasmin Jauhari Yasmin is a breast surgery registrar in the Wessex Deanery. Her PhD examined breast cancer outcomes in older women in the UK, and she has a strong interest in data science and the implementation of data-driven quality improvement initiatives.	Dr Yvonne Walburga Joko-Fru Yvonne is a physician and cancer epidemiologist. She is currently a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge, where she investigates the influence of therapy on survival from breast, prostate, ovarian and pancreatic cancers
Mrs Julliet Lwiindi Julliet is a public engagement and involvement officer within Oxford Cancer at the University of Oxford. Julliet co-leads the Ethnicity and Breast Cancer Patient and Public Involvement Group.	Mrs Sau Wan Kan Sau Wan is a statistical programmer at the University of Oxford.