Prof Stefan SymeonidesClinician

Biography

Prof Stefan Symeonides is Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine and a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, and the linked Edinburgh Cancer Centre (NHS Lothian) and CRUK Scotland Centre. He leads the Edinburgh Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, bridging pre-clinical discovery and clinical drug development, and runs the Phase I Trials Unit for new cancer treatments. He holds a specialty focus on renal cancers within the Uro-oncology team and is clinical lead for the Edinburgh Cancer Immunology Research Network. After clinical training in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Melbourne and Christchurch, and industry experience at AstraZeneca and various UK biotechs, he also serves as Senior Medical Advisor at Cancer Research UK's Centre for Drug Development and sits on the Board of Directors of the Cancer Drug Development Forum. He is known for leading early-phase immunotherapy combination trials and has argued publicly for reducing regulatory duplication that impedes the running of clinical trials in the UK.

References

1. 1.Prof Stefan Symeonides – Scottish Cancer Conference speaker profile — Current full title (Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine, Consultant Medical Oncologist), institutional affiliations (UoE, NHS Lothian, CRUK Scotland Centre), CRUK Centre for Drug Development advisory role, and CDDF board membership
2. 2.Stefan Symeonides Research Group – Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh — Role leading Edinburgh ECMC, Phase I Trials Unit, immunotherapy focus, and CRUK drug development advisory work
3. 3.Kidney cancer drug accepted for use within NHS Scotland and across the UK – IGC, University of Edinburgh — UK Chief Investigator role on KEYNOTE-564 trial; approval of pembrolizumab as first post-nephrectomy adjuvant therapy for renal cell carcinoma (2022)
4. 4.New drug shows efficacy for multiple cancers in breakthrough clinical trial – NIHR Manchester CRF — UK Chief Investigator role on EMITT-1 trial; confirmed current title and employer (2026)

Expertise

Cited on

• Cancer

Stated areas of expertise

• Early-phase cancer drug development
• Cancer immunotherapy combinations
• Phase I clinical trials
• Renal cell carcinoma
• Translational oncology
• Cancer clinical trials regulation

Notable achievements

• Served as UK Chief Investigator of the KEYNOTE-564 phase III trial, whose results led to approval of pembrolizumab — the first adjuvant treatment to reduce relapse after kidney cancer surgery — within the UK and NHS Scotland (2022). Source ↗
• Serves as UK Chief Investigator of the EMITT-1 trial of a first-in-class ERAP1 inhibitor (GRWD5769), a novel immunotherapy showing efficacy across multiple advanced solid tumour types including lung, cervical and bladder cancers (results reported 2026). Source ↗
• Co-designed (with Prof Dean Fennell) the first CRUK Alliance trial to bring together two drug companies to test a combination of an immunotherapy and a targeted treatment — the FAK-PD1 trial (defactinib + pembrolizumab, NCT02758587) — running UK-wide across the ECMC network. Source ↗
• Author on a 2025 Nature Medicine publication reporting the first-in-human phase I FRAME trial of avutometinib and defactinib in solid tumours. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “It is fantastic to have been able to bring this promising new immunotherapy approach through to clinical trials and to see our patients benefiting.”

  consultant medical oncologist at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre and professor of experimental cancer medicine at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · Smart drug that strips cancer cells of ‘invisibility cloak’ can shrink tumours by 30%, trial shows ↗

• “Patient expressed gratitude to 'Prof Stefan Symeonides and his team in Edinburgh' for the treatment and research”

  Professor in Edinburgh (implied oncology/cancer research based on context) · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · ‘I was getting ready to say goodbye’: cancer patient’s hope after smart drug success ↗

Source references

1. Smart drug that strips cancer cells of ‘invisibility cloak’ can shrink tumours by 30%, trial showstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. ‘I was getting ready to say goodbye’: cancer patient’s hope after smart drug successtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/stefan-symeonides
• Staff pagehttps://institute-genetics-cancer.ed.ac.uk/research/research-groups-a-z/symeonides-group
• ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9892-9314published here ↗
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/stefansymeonidespublished here ↗

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