John P. Neoptolemos

Professor John Neoptolemos is Professor of Surgery and Senior Research Group Leader at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He is a leading pancreatic cancer specialist with some 85,000 scientific citations, £75m in competitive grants and has given over 300 invited lectures at national and international scientific meetings. He is the Chair of the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC) and was one of the founders of the International Study Group for Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS). At Liverpool University he held the Chair of Surgery from 1996 until 2017. He was made a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences from 2007, a National Institutes Health Research Senior Fellow from 2011 and a Department of Health Platinum Award holder from 2004. He studied at the University of Cambridge obtaining a double degree in Natural Sciences and Philosophy followed by clinical training at Guy’s Hospital in London. As Chairman of ESPAC he successfully led the ESPAC -1, 3, 4 and 5 trials, the results of which have bee adopted as guidelines for the treatment of potentially curable pancreatic caner around the world. As Director, he received the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2011 for the Liverpool Cancer Research UK Centre. In 2007, he established the NIHR Liverpool Pancreas Biomedical Research Unit (Scientific Director), the NIHR and Cancer research UK Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (Deputy Director), and the Liverpool Clinical Trials and Cancer Research UK Cancer Trials Units (Director). Professor Neoptolemos was the main driving force for the relocation of the Regional Cancer Centre (Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology) into central Liverpool on the site the Royal Liverpool University Hospital adjacent to the Biomedical Science facilities of the University of Liverpool. He was the Clinical Chair for the NICE Guidelines on Pancreatic Cancer (2015-2017) and is currently leading development of the joint International Consensus Guidelines on Chronic Pancreatitis, of the International Association Of Pancreatology, the European Pancreatic Club, the Japan Pancreas Society, and the American Pancreatic Association. He served on the Medical Advisory Board of Pancreas Cancer UK In 2012 he was made an Honorary Member of the German Society of Surgery. In 2013 the Pancreas Unit won the Acute Services Sector Health Services Award. In 2013 he received a Life Time Achievement Award from the European Pancreatic Club. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Member of the Hungary Society of Surgery and also an Honorary Professor of Nanjing Medical University. He was awarded Hirschberg Award for Pancreatic Cancer, American Pancreatic Association in 2005, the Ruth Brufsky Award for Pancreas Cancer Research in 2017 and the Henry Lynch Award for Inherited Pancreas Diseases in 2018. He was elected to the Academia Europaea in 2019.