Professor Bleddyn Jones

Professor of Clinical Radiation Biology, Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology

Bleddyn Jones is Professor of Clinical Radiation Biology at the new Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology as well as Honorary Consultant in Clinical Oncology, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

He developed an interest in scientific oncology and mathematics relating to cancer as an undergraduate at Cambridge University and was awarded a Clinical Scholarship to train at Guy`s Hospital Medical School. After several junior medical posts at Guy`s, he obtained an MRC Training Fellowship to study Radiation Biology at The University of London, obtaining an MSc with distinction.

Clinical training in radiotherapy and oncology followed at Guys, St Thomas, St Bartholomews and The Royal London Hospitals. In 1988, he was appointed as Consultant to The Mersey Regional Centre for Radiotherapy and Oncology (later Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology) where there was a medical cyclotron. He developed a detailed interest in the treatment of gynaecological tumours by brachytherapy, along with the careful integration of chemotherapy in nervous system malignancies, using mathematical models to reduce the risk of complications, improve tumour control including special situations such as re-treatment of brain tumours. His MD on the development of mathematical models in radiotherapy was written during this appointment.

In 1999, he became Reader in Oncology at Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital and extended his work on clinically relevant modelling with Prof Roger Dale, which also led to their co-editing the first textbook on radiobiological modelling in radiation oncology. In 2004, he transferred to Birmingham to interact further with clinical physics and is presently a major advocate for the use of charged particle radiotherapy in the UK. In 2005, he was made an honorary Medical Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and in 2007 an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Radiology. Teaching of all basic and clinical aspects of radiation oncology - using a tutorial approach - has been a particular interest during his career. He has also been Examiner for the Final Fellowship examination for cancer specialists in London and Dublin.

Over the past 20 years he has been involved with selection and referral of patients abroad for particle therapy. Present research interests include development of new accelerator technology, better prediction of the biological effects of different qualities of radiation and the role of fractionation in particle beam therapy. He is Deputy Director of the Oxford Master of Science course in Radiation Biology and Co-Director of the new Particle Therapy Cancer Research Institute.