Vincent J Gnanapragasam

Vincent is an academic urologist at the University of Cambridge specialising in prostate cancer; he undertakes clinical, translational and basic science research.

Background

Vincent J Gnanapragasam graduated with BMedSci and MBBS degrees from Newcastle University. Following basic surgical training he was one of the first trainees to be funded through a Cancer Research UK PhD for clinicians. Whilst undertaking Higher Specialist Training in Urology in the North East, Vincent was appointed as Urology First Assistant (Clinical Lecturer) at Newcastle University in 2003. In 2004, supported by the first CRUK Clinician Scientist Fellowship given to a surgeon, he established his own research group in the University of Newcastle.

Currently, Vincent is University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and Honorary Consultant Urologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. He is also a Visiting Professor at the School of Medicine.

Research interests

• Prostate cancer
• Translational research
• Clinical trials
• Bio-markers
• Early cancer detection
• Prognostic modelling
• Molecular Biology 
• Improved clinical pathways
• Technology in diagnostics and surgery

Current research covers the full spectrum of basic science, translational, clinical and epidemiological disciplines in prostate cancer. CI of the TAPS study and NIHR funded CAMPROBE study as well as a member of the UK ICGC prostate group and the Pan Prostate Cancer Collaborative. Developed novel and more accurate prognostic prediction models for both group stratified cohorts and for individualised prediction. To date, Vincent has raised over £6m in research grant funding and published more than 100 peer reviewed papers.

Qualifications

• MBBS, University of Newcastle
• BMedSci, University of Newcastle
• PhD, University of Newcastle
• FRCS, Royal College of Surgeons of England 
• FRCSEdUrol, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• MA, University of Cambridge

Memberships, editorial boards

• British Association of Urological Surgeons
• RCS England
• RCS Edinburgh
• European Association of Urological Surgeons
• Editorial Board BMC Cancer
• Editorial Board Journal of Clinical Urology

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• NIHR i4i 
• The Urology Foundation 
• Janssen-Cilag research 
• Evelyn Trust 
• Beckman Coulter
• Royal College of Surgeons 
• Cancer Research UK

Selected recent publications

Gnanapragasam VJ, Bratt O, Muir K, Lee LS, Huang HH, Stattin P, Lophatananon A. The Cambridge Prognostic Groups for improved prediction of disease mortality at diagnosis in primary non-metastatic prostate cancer: a validation study. BMC Med. 2018 Feb 28;16(1):31. doi: 10.1186/s12916-018-1019-5. PubMed PMID: 29490658; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5831573.

Jaulim A, Srinivasan A, Hori S, Kumar N, Warren AY, Shah NC, Gnanapragasam VJ. A comparison of operative and margin outcomes from surgeon learning curves in robot assisted radical prostatectomy in a changing referral practice. Ann R Coll  Surg Engl. 2018 Mar;100(3):226-229. doi: 10.1308/rcsann.2018.0001. Epub 2018 Feb  27. PubMed PMID: 29484935.

Thurtle D, Barrett T, Thankappan-Nair V, Koo B, Warren A, Kastner C, Saeb-Parsy K, Kimberley-Duffell J, Gnanapragasam VJ. Progression and treatment rates using an active surveillance protocol incorporating image-guided baseline biopsies and multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging monitoring for men with favourable-risk prostate cancer. BJU Int. 2018 Feb 13. doi: 10.1111/bju.14166. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29438586.

Donovan JL, Young GJ, Walsh EI, Metcalfe C, Lane JA, Martin RM, Tazewell MK, Davis M, Peters TJ, Turner EL, Mills N, Khazragui H, Khera TK, Neal DE, Hamdy FC; ProtecT Study Group. A prospective cohort and extended comprehensive-cohort design provided insights about the generalizability of a pragmatic trial: the ProtecT prostate cancer trial. J Clin Epidemiol. 2018 Apr;96:35-46. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2017.12.019. Epub 2017 Dec 27. PubMed PMID: 29288137.

Murray MJ, Watson HL, Ward D, Bailey S, Ferraresso M, Nicholson JC, Gnanapragasam VJ, Thomas B, Scarpini CG, Coleman N. "Future-Proofing" Blood Processing for Measurement of Circulating miRNAs in Samples from Biobanks and Prospective Clinical Trials. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2018 Feb;27(2):208-218. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-0657. Epub 2017 Dec 18. PubMed PMID: 29254935; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5812437.

Bruinsma SM, Zhang L, Roobol MJ, Bangma CH, Steyerberg EW, Nieboer D, Van Hemelrijck M; Movember Foundation's Global Action Plan Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance (GAP3) consortium. The Movember Foundation's GAP3 cohort: a profile  of the largest global prostate cancer active surveillance database to date. BJU Int. 2017 Dec 15. doi: 10.1111/bju.14106. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29247473.

Barrett T, McLean M, Priest AN, Lawrence EM, Patterson AJ, Koo BC, Patterson I, Warren AY, Doble A, Gnanapragasam VJ, Kastner C, Gallagher FA. Diagnostic evaluation of magnetization transfer and diffusion kurtosis imaging for prostate  cancer detection in a re-biopsy population. Eur Radiol. 2017 Dec 8. doi: 10.1007/s00330-017-5169-1. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29222677.

Lamb AD, Thompson S, Kinsella N, Gerbitz I, Chapman E, Putt L, Bennett S, Thankappannair V, Geoghegan L, Wright N, Stirton-Croft A, Nixon P, Styling A, Whitney D, Hodgson L, Punt L, Longmore J, Carter M, Petch B, Rimmer Y, Russell S, Hughes-Davies L, Mazhar D, Shah NC, Gnanapragasam VJ, Doble A, Bratt O, Kastner C.

Camacho N, Van Loo P, Edwards S, Kay JD, Matthews L, Haase K, Clark J, Dennis  N, Thomas S, Kremeyer B, Zamora J, Butler AP, Gundem G, Merson S, Luxton H, Hawkins S, Ghori M, Marsden L, Lambert A, Karaszi K, Pelvender G, Massie CE, Kote-Jarai Z, Raine K, Jones D, Howat WJ, Hazell S, Livni N, Fisher C, Ogden C, Kumar P, Thompson A, Nicol D, Mayer E, Dudderidge T, Yu Y, Zhang H, Shah NC, Gnanapragasam VJ; CRUK-ICGC Prostate Group, Isaacs W, Visakorpi T, Hamdy F, Berney D, Verrill C, Warren AY, Wedge DC, Lynch AG, Foster CS, Lu YJ, Bova GS, Whitaker HC, McDermott U, Neal DE, Eeles R, Cooper CS, Brewer DS. Appraising the  relevance of DNA copy number loss and gain in prostate cancer using whole genome  DNA sequence data. PLoS Genet. 2017 Sep 25;13(9):e1007001. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007001. eCollection 2017 Sep. PubMed PMID: 28945760; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5628936.

Hsu RCJ, Salika T, Maw J, Lyratzopoulos G, Gnanapragasam VJ, Armitage JN. Influence of hospital volume on nephrectomy mortality and complications: a systematic review and meta-analysis stratified by surgical type. BMJ Open. 2017 Sep 5;7(9):e016833. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016833. PubMed PMID: 28877947; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5588977.

Thurtle D, Treece GM, Barrett T, Gnanapragasam VJ. Novel three-dimensional bone 'mapping' software can help assess progression of osseous metastases from routine CT. Radiat Oncol. 2017 Aug 30;12(1):143. doi: 10.1186/s13014-017-0880-2.  PubMed PMID: 28854948; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5577835.

Media experience

Research featured in:
Cambridge News, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, Pharma Times, The Sun, Business Weekly
Expert TV interview:

BBC Horizon, 'Should I Test My Health' August 2015. ITV Anglia-New improved method to determine who needs prostate cancer treatment ITV Anglia March 2018

Public events: 
Cambridge Science Festival: The sixth sense of the oncologist: how doctors can find cancer earlier and why you may not necessarily want to know.Panellist. Cambridge March 2017 
Cambridge Science Festival: Is earlier necessarily better? Panellist. Cambridge March 2017 
Clinical Entrepreneurs Forum Invited expert. on overcoming barriers to bringing innovations to clinical practice.  Health Enterprise East (HEE) and the Eastern Allied Health Sciences Network March 2017