Speakers

Steve Bland

Steve Bland presented, along with the late Dame Deborah James and Lauren Mahon, the multi-award winning BBC 5 Live podcast You, Me and the Big C. The podcast was set up by Steve’s first wife, the late BBC journalist and broadcaster Rachael Bland, who died in September 2018 from breast cancer, and went on to win Best New Show at the Radio Academy and Best Podcast at the Television and Radio Industry Club awards plus many other national and international awards.

Since Rachael’s death, Steve has appeared on ITV’s Lorraine, BBC Breakfast, Channel 4, Sky News, BBC 5 Live and others, talking about his own story as well as dealing with his grief. Already a dad to nine-year-old Freddie, in 2022 he remarried and has had twins with Amy, herself a nurse at the Christie. He is passionate about proving that there is life after cancer.

Steve was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2023 by the Institute of Cancer Research and the University of London. He is also a proud supporter of CRUK and an official Friend of the Bowelbabe Fund and in April, he will be taking on his sixth London Marathon to raise money for the charity set up by Dame Deborah before her death.

Presentation title: ’Two Weddings and a Funeral….and a podcast’

Dr Ricky Frazer

Dr Ricky Frazer MBBCH (Hons), MSc (MedEduc), BSc, PgCert (Onc), PgCert (ClinLead), PgCert (AcuteMed) MAcadMEd, MRCP, AFFMLM

Ricky Frazer is a medical oncology consultant working at Velindre Cancer Centre (VCC) in Cardiff. He specialises in renal cancer, skin cancer and acute oncology and is clinical lead for the acute oncology assessment unit at VCC and the immunotherapy toxicity management service. He is one of the founding members of the UK Renal Oncology Collaborative (UK ROC). He has recently completed and was awarded a distinction in the postgraduate certificate in acute medicine at the University of South Wales. He was a Welsh Clinical Leadership Training Fellow with the Wales Deanery and is a Founding Associate Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. He has a strong educational interest and is currently a Royal College of Physicians (RCP) College Tutor and Faculty Lead. He is also an Honorary Lecturer at Cardiff University. He has completed a Master’s in medical education and was awarded the National Munro Medal by the RCP for excellence and leadership in education. He is Vice President of the National Immuno-Oncology Clinical Network (IOCN) and Co-leads the monthly National Immuno-Oncology Education Forum. He has been heavily involved in the inception and development of the national Practical Management of your Immuno-Oncology Patient (PMI-OP) educational series exploring immunotherapy identification and management with specialist colleagues. In 2023 and in 2024 he was awarded the individual leader of the year for Velindre NHS Trust and the South East Wales Immunotherapy Toxicity Team won the award for education, research and innovation and improving patient experience. The immunotherapy team were also awarded the coveted Macmillan UK National Innovation Excellence Award in Glasgow in November 2023. In May 2024 he led on organising the National Melanoma Focus Meeting attended by more than 250 HCP’s. This involved creating the agenda, recruiting speakers and chairing on the day. In September 2024 he was part of the faculty of 3 that helped develop and deliver the face to face FRCR Part 2 course in Hong Kong. He is co-founder of a Podcast called ‘The Immunobuddies’ launched in February 2023 which covers the use and management of immunotherapy in treating cancer. The podcast is freely available on a number of online platforms including Apple, Amazon and Spotify and has been downloaded in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Presentation title: Past, Present and Future of Immunotherapy for Solid Tumours – Cure for Metastatic Cancer - Fact of Fiction?