Elizabeth Ruth Plummer is a British oncologist and academic. She is a Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

and an oncologist specialising in treating patients with

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

. Based in Newcastle, she directs the Sir

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. ...

Cancer Trials Research Centre, set up by the

Sir Bobby Robson Foundation The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is a British cancer research Charitable organization, charity which raises money to fund the early detection and treatment of cancer, and clinical trials of anti-cancer drugs. Based in the North East of England, ...

to run early-stage clinical trials.v Plummer and the Newcastle team won a 2010 Translational Cancer Research Prize from

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

for work using

rucaparib Rucaparib, sold under the brand name Rubraca, is a PARP inhibitor used as an anti-cancer agent. Rucaparib is a first-in-class pharmaceutical drug targeting the DNA repair enzyme poly-ADP ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1). It is taken by mouth. The ...

to treat

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

. "Translational Cancer Research Prize"
''Cancer Research UK'' Plummer was elected as a fellow of the UK's

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...

in 2018."New Fellows for 2018 announced"
''The Academy of Medical Sciences''"Fellow - Professor Ruth Plummer FMedSci"
''The Academy of Medical Sciences''

Education and career

Plummer studied pre-clinical medicine at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and completed a PhD and her clinical studies at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. She then moved back to Newcastle, working at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University. She lists her research interests as

DNA repair DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell (biology), cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. A weakened capacity for DNA repair is a risk factor for the development of cancer. DNA is cons ...

and the early trials of new drugs."Professor Ruth Plummer"
''Northern Institute for Cancer Research'' Plummer is Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University and an honorary consultant medical oncologist in

Newcastle Hospital Newcastle Hospital in Toodyay, Western Australia was completed in 1894 and was the only purpose-built hospital for the town then known as Newcastle. It ceased operating as a hospital in 1940. History Construction of this building commenced in ...

NHS Foundation Trust. She is Director of the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre within the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, w a dedicated clinical trials unit within the regional cancer centre. . Plummer also leads the Newcastle Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and the CRUK Newcastle Cancer Centre."Professor Ruth Plummer"
''Cancer Research UK''

Scientific work

Plummer was the first clinician to write a prescription for the cancer drug

Rucaparib Rucaparib, sold under the brand name Rubraca, is a PARP inhibitor used as an anti-cancer agent. Rucaparib is a first-in-class pharmaceutical drug targeting the DNA repair enzyme poly-ADP ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1). It is taken by mouth. The ...

, a

PARP inhibitor PARP inhibitors are a class of drugs that are a group of pharmacological inhibitors of the enzyme poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), which plays a role in repairing DNA in damaged cells. Medical uses of these drugs include the treatment of heri ...

in 2003."Rucaparib: targeting DNA repair and a patient's perspective"
''Cancer Research UK'' She led early clinical trials testing a combination of rucaparib (AG014699) and

temozolomide Temozolomide, sold under the brand name Temodar among others, is an anticancer medication used to treat brain tumors such as glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma. Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency ...

in patients with advanced solid tumours, discovering that it well tolerated. She has also led early-stage trials that determined the safety of the combination of rucaparib and the chemotherapy drug

carboplatin Carboplatin, sold under the brand name Paraplatin among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of forms of cancer. This includes ovarian cancer, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, brain cancer, and neuroblastoma. It is a ...

for advanced solid tumours, Following successful clinical trials,

was given accelerated approval in the US by the FDA in 2016 and received a conditional licence by the EU in 2018. She has also led studies bringing a new type of drug, ATR inhibitor, into the clinic through early-stage clinical trials. ATR, which stands for

Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related Serine/threonine-protein kinase ATR, also known as ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATR) or FRAP-related protein 1 (FRP1), is an enzyme that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATR'' gene. It is a large kinase of about 301.66 kDa. ATR ...

, regulates how cells respond to stress and can help promote DNA repair. She chairs the Cancer Research UK New Agents Committee and the Scientific Advisory Board for Target Ovarian Cancer. She is a member of Cancer Research UK’s Clinical Research Committee and the Medical Research Council’s Stratified Medicines Group. She sits on the clinical advisory board for Karus Therapeutics, and is a scientific advisor for CV6 Therapeutics.

Honours and awards

Plummer was elected a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018 ." The Academy cited that she “has a world-leading reputation in the design and delivery of early phase clinical trials. She has taken many new cancer drugs into the clinic to determine their optimal dose, which have then become standard treatments with proven patient benefit.” She won a Translational Cancer Research Prize from Cancer Research UK for this work in 2010 for her work on PARP inhibitor trials. Plummer was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

for services to medicine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plummer, Ruth Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Academics of Newcastle University 21st-century British medical doctors British women medical doctors Cancer researchers Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of the British Empire British oncologists