Lecture Series 2026

Anna Olsson-Brown is the UPMC Professor of Cancer Clinical Trials and a Consultant in Medical Oncology. She specialises in the systemic treatment of skin cancers: immunotherapeutic toxicities, early phase/translational clinical trials, and NSS/CUP/acute oncology.

Lecture Title: Cancer Immunotherapy: a reflection on the past, the present  and the future. 

 'As an oncologist, pharmacologist, clinician and academic my perspective and role in the area of cancer immunotherapy, both from an efficacy and toxicity perspective, has grown exponentially during my career. The lecture will explore this evolution and my vision for how this will develop and expand over the coming years.' Prof Olsson-Brown

Biography Anna Olsson-Brown is the UPMC Professor of Cancer Clinical Trials and a Consultant in Medical Oncology. She specialises in the systemic treatment of skin cancers; immunotherapeutic/oncolgical treatment toxicities, early phase/translational clinical trials and NSS/CUP/acute oncology. She is an academic consultant at University College Cork/Cork University Hospital. 

She has a background in clinical pharmacology and an interest in acute oncology and supportive care for cancer patients particularly with regards to toxicity of cancer therapies. Having trained at Liverpool Medical School in the UK, she undertook her early resident doctor years in the south of England before returning to Liverpool to undertake her training in medical oncology, becoming a consultant at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in 2021. During her training she took time out as a Medical Research Council research fellow completing her PhD in cancer studies and pharmacology investigating the mechanisms of immunotherapy toxicity which has subsequently become a research area of significant interest and continues to work in the field. She has also spent time living in both Sweden and Switzerland to gain further experience in both healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. She has also set up and worked  within a number of research networks including the National Oncology Trainee Collaboration for Healthcare Research, the UK Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project, the NIHR OTRC Immunotoxicity lead and the NIHR BHF cardio-oncology committee. 

She has established and led numerous acute and supportive oncology services including  pan-tumour, pan-regional immunotherapy/oncotoxicity service supporting inpatients and outpatients with immunotherapy toxicities and providing a clinical-research interface supporting a number of translational trials at both the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool and Sussex Cancer Centre, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, where she took up her second consultant post. She has sat on number of advisory panels including the Cardio-oncology MDT at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and Neuro-oncology toxicity and HLH MDTs at University College London Hospital. She has established both an enhanced supportive care service and an oncofraility service at UHSx. She spent 4 years as an Clinical Director in healthcare prior to taking up her academic position, first as clinical director of the Acute Division at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and subsequently as Clinical Director for Clinical Cancer Services at the Sussex Caner Centre within UHSx with responsibilities across Medical and Clinical Oncology, Haematology, Palliative Care, Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapies and Radiotherapy.

She has held a number of external roles including Chair of the UK Society of Medical Oncology (formerly the Association of Cancer Physicians ACP). She is a founding member and current CEO of the National Immunotherapy Clinical Network (IOCN). She is also the Toxicity Workstream Co-lead within the UK Acute Oncology Society and a trustee and board member of UKASCC.  She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the current Oncology representative of the Symposium Committee at RCPE. She sits on the UK SACT board and RCP Oncology Committees in her representative roles. In addition to this she is the co-founder and co-host of the international podcast 'The Immunobuddies' exploring key concepts and research in the field of immunotherapies.