Kevin HarringtonClinician

Biography

Professor Kevin Harrington (MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCR, FRSB) is Professor of Biological Cancer Therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, and Head of the Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging at the ICR/Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. He is also an Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. He studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, began his focus on head and neck cancer during a PhD at Hammersmith Hospital, and completed post-doctoral research at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, before joining the ICR in 2001. He specialises in developing biologically-targeted agents—including oncolytic viruses, antibodies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and small molecules—that selectively destroy cancer cells and activate anti-tumour immune responses, with most laboratory work translated directly into clinical trials at The Royal Marsden. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator and has published more than 600 peer-reviewed publications.

References

1. 1.Professor Kevin Harrington – ICR Researcher Profile — Role title, division leadership, research focus, awards, and academic credentials at the ICR
2. 2.Professor Kevin Harrington – The Royal Marsden Consultant Directory — Consultant clinical oncologist role, clinical speciality in head and neck cancer, joint head of Radiotherapy and Imaging
3. 3.Professor Kevin Harrington – NIHR — NIHR Senior Investigator status and research focus on head and neck cancer targeted therapy
4. 4.'Game-changing' immunotherapy doubles head and neck cancer survival – ICR News — UK lead of CheckMate 141 nivolumab Phase III trial published in New England Journal of Medicine (2016)
5. 5.

Expertise

Cited on

• Cancer

Stated areas of expertise

• Oncolytic virotherapy
• Head and neck cancer
• Cancer immunotherapy
• Radiotherapy and radiosensitisation
• Clinical trials in oncology
• Biologically targeted cancer therapies

Notable achievements

• Led the UK arm of the CheckMate 141 Phase III trial of nivolumab in relapsed/metastatic head and neck cancer, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2016), which found more than double the number of patients alive after one year compared with chemotherapy. Source ↗
• Received the 2019 BAHNO (British Association of Head and Neck Oncology) President's Achievement Award. Source ↗
• Appointed NIHR Senior Investigator in 2016. Source ↗
• Delivered the 2021 Semon Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine. Source ↗
• Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging (which he leads) received the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education, awarded by the King and Queen at St James's Palace (2026). Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “To see this level of benefit for patients who have endured numerous treatments is incredibly encouraging. This could represent a real shift in how we treat head and neck cancer – not just in terms of effectiveness, but also in how we deliver care.”

  Professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, and consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · Smart jab can shrink head and neck cancer tumours within six weeks, trial finds ↗

• “These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited, so seeing this level of benefit is very striking.”

  Professor in biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), and consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · Cancer jab can eradicate entire tumours in patients, trial shows ↗

Source references

1. Smart jab can shrink head and neck cancer tumours within six weeks, trial findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. Cancer jab can eradicate entire tumours in patients, trial showstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.icr.ac.uk/research-and-discoveries/find-a-researcher/test-researcher-profile-detail/professor-kevin-harrington
• Staff pagehttps://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/our-consultants-units-and-wards/consultant-directory/professor-kevin-harrington
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-harrington-013b4b3b/published here ↗
• Websitehttps://www.nihr.ac.uk/people/professor-kevin-harrington

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.