Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence
The Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence award, given to just a handful of services across the UK, recognises the quality of care given to brain tumour patients from our East London communities.
Centre of Excellence status is based upon strict criteria which includes clinical practice, training opportunities for staff and research into the disease.
Brain tumour research
Our research funding
In 2018, Barts Charity awarded a £1.5m grant to vastly enhance the current research into brain tumours, focusing on glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form.
The research is led by brain tumour expert, Silvia Marino, Professor of Neuropathology at Queen Mary University of London and Edward McKintosh, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust.
The grant has helped researchers get closer to a cure by extending their successful lab-based research into clinical settings at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and The Royal London Hospital.
Brain tumours kill more people under the age of 40 than any other cancer. The survival rates are very low, with less than 20% of those diagnosed surviving beyond five years, compared to 50% of all other cancers.
High-quality care
The Barts Health team were praised by the Mission for their pioneering use of technology to improve patient experience, their inpatient neuro-rehabilitation service and significant stereotactic radiotherapy service.
Neurosurgeon, Dimitrios Paraskevopoulos, said: “This achievement acknowledges the hard work and dedication of the team who, despite the pandemic, have kept on providing fantastic care to our diverse population.”
Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Rachel Lewis, said: “I’m proud to be part of an amazing team recognised for its holistic care. Our ‘excellence’ status will reassure patients and their families that they will receive high-quality care throughout their treatment at Barts Health.”
"Our ‘excellence’ status will reassure patients and their families that they will receive high-quality care throughout their treatment at Barts Health."Rachel Lewis, Consultant Clinical Oncologist
Tessa Jowell legacy
The Mission is a legacy of the late Baroness Tessa Jowell, a former Labour cabinet minister, who, before her death in May 2018, gave a powerful speech in the House of Lords recognising the need to improve brain tumour care, treatment and survival.
She called for “greater collaboration” and the use of adaptive trials to allow patients to access new treatments.
The decision to award Centre of Excellence status was made by a panel of experts including health care professionals and academics.