Meet the team
Our team brings together scientists based at the University of Manchester and Manchester Cancer Research Centre, clinicians at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, and collaborators from the University of the West Indies, Mona and partner hospitals in Jamaica.
University of Manchester team
Prof. David Wedge
Principal Investigator
David is a Professor in Cancer Genomics and Data Science at The University of Manchester and is the principal investigator for this study. His work focuses on cancer evolution and understanding how genetic changes shape cancer development and progression.
Dr Aliah Hawari
Lead Researcher
Aliah is a Research Fellow and Computational Biologist based at the University of Manchester and Manchester Cancer Research Centre. She studies how prostate cancer develops by analysing genetic changes in tumour samples and leads the genomic data analysis for this study. She also leads the day-to-day running of the project and is the main point of contact for patients, public contributors and collaborators.
Dr Ashwin Sachdeva
Consultant Urological Surgeon and Clinical Senior Lecturer in Urology
Ashwin is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and the UK clinical lead for this study.
Mr. Jeremy Oates
Consultant Urological Surgeon
Jeremy is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and the UK clinical collaborator for this study.
University of the West Indies, Mona team
Dr. Sasha Gay-Wright
Academic and Cancer Researcher | Postdoctoral Fellow
Sasha-Gay is an academic and cancer researcher specialising in prostate cancer biology and translational biomedical technologies. In this study, she will coordinate research activities in Jamaica, including ethics and collaboration with clinical teams, and contribute to participant data collection and laboratory activities.
Prof. William Aiken
Consultant Urological Surgeon and Clinical Lead
William is a Consultant Urological Surgeon based in Jamaica and the clinical lead for the Jamaican study team. He will support the identification of suitable participants and the collection of prostate tissue samples for the study.
Dr. Kimberley Foster
Research Fellow and Cell Biologist
Kimberley is a Research Fellow and Cell Biologist who will support participant data collection and laboratory processing of prostate tissue samples. She will also contribute to sample quality control and preparation for genomic analysis.
Dr. Sophia Green
Consultant Urologist
Sophia is a Consultant Urologist based in Jamaica and will support the clinical aspects of the study, including participant recruitment, prostate biopsy procedures and collection of samples for genomic analysis.