Gerald Gui

I always knew that I wanted to do surgery. I started at The Royal Marsden in 1997, young, enthusiastic and with a mission to bring new energy and ideas, to develop comprehensive research and treatment programs in a specialist cancer centre. I am honoured to continue to work with a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, nurses, physiotherapists and allied specialties whose individual abilities and combined contributions can make such a difference for patients, their relatives, friends and carers.

The face of breast cancer treatment has changed so much in the 40 years that I have worked for the NHS. It has been an absolute privilege to be able to help the thousands of women diagnosed with breast cancer along their cancer journey. A diagnosis of cancer is indeed a life changing experience. The courage shown by our patients in dealing with breast cancer and then going on to become cancer survivors has been truly humbling for me to be part of. Whilst medicine is generally a science applied to populations, it is heartening to see major inroads into tailoring treatments, the goal eventually being to personalise therapy for cancers in individual patients.

It has been an amazing time to be involved at a clinical level with breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Progress in cancer outcome is driven not only by the medical and scientific community but by the collective efforts of many of our patients who have contributed to clinical trials, fundraising, support groups and providing a voice that can be heard loud and clear. It is this human touch that allows us to face the future with confidence in the knowledge that breast cancer treatment will continue to improve and increasingly, women diagnosed with breast cancer, will be able to get on with their normal lives.