Staff Profile

I am an academic paediatric oncology registrar and clinical research fellow with the lymphoma research group within the Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre. I completed my medical school training in 2012 with an intercalated BMed Sci.

As a paediatric specialty trainee, I was awarded an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in the Northern deanery. During this time I worked with the lymphoma research group on various projects investigating the risk factors, clinical characteristics and genomic profile of B cell lymphomas in children and young people, including those with primary and iatrogenic immunodeficiencies. This has led to a clinical and research interest in immuno-oncology, particularly the impact of pre-existing host immune dysregulation on modulating the immunological response to oncoviruses and the subsequent risk of high grade B cell lymphomas.

I have undertaken a CRUK-funded clinical PhD fellowship - alongside my sub-specialty training - to investigate the systemic immune landscape and tumour microenvironment of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in thymectomised children under the supervision of Dr Simon Bomken (primary supervisor), Dr Chris Bacon (co-supervisor) and Professor Andy Gennery (co-supervisor).

Qualifications

• MRCPCH, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2019
• PGCert Clinical Research (Distinction), 2018
• MSc Public Health and Health Services Research (Distinction), 2016
• MBChB (Hons), 2012
• BMed Sci (Hons), 2008

Roles and Responsibilities 

• Paediatric Oncology GRID Trainee, Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• RCPCH Paediatric Oncology CSAC Member - Trainee Representative
• Paediatric Oncology Trainees Group (POTG) - Co-chair
• Newcastle University Clinical Academic Training (NU-CAT) Committee Member - External Fellows Representative (2021-2024)

Awards and Funding

• CCLG Experimental and Translation Science Award (2024)
• BACR/AstraZeneca Student Award (2022).
• Cancer Research UK Clinical PhD Fellowship (2021-2024).
• Lymphoma Research Trust Grant (2021).
• Northern Deanery Annual Research and Development Conference, Runner up best oral presentation (2019).
• NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship (2017 - 2020).
• North of England Children's Cancer Research Fund (2016).
• Newcastle University Institute of Health and Society prize for best Masters dissertation (2016).
• Great North Paediatric Conference, Best Clinical Research Poster (2016).
• Newcastle University Postgraduate Scholarship Award (2015).

Memberships

• Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) - NHL Special Interest Group
• International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP)
• British Association for Cancer Research (BACR)
• European Haematology Association (EHA)

Research Areas

I provide clinical teaching to medical students and junior doctors within the paediatric oncology department at the Great North Children’s Hospital. I conduct MRCPCH clinical exam revision sessions within the Northern School of Paediatrics. I have collaborated with the Northern deanery to establish a monthly region-wide virtual journal club for paediatric trainees alongside a training curriculum for evidence-based clinical practice. This has been formally integrated into the regional teaching programme for paediatric specialty training in the North East.

• Articles

  • Offor UT, Hollis P, Ognjanovic M, Parry G, Khushnood A, Long HM, Gennery AR, Bacon CM, Simmonds J, Reinhardt Z, Bomken S. Immunology of THymectomy And childhood CArdiac transplant (ITHACA): protocol for a UK-wide prospective observational cohort study to identify immunological risk factors of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in thymectomised children. BMJ Open 2023, 13(10), e079582.
  • Offor UT, Bacon CM, Roberts J, Powell J, Brodlie M, Wood K, Windebank KP, Flett J, Hewitt T, Rand V, Hasan A, Parry G, Gennery AR, Reinhardt Z, Bomken S. Transplantation For Congenital Heart Disease Is Associated With An Increased Risk Of Epstein-Barr Virus-Related Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder In Children. Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation 2021, 35(5), 24-32.
  • Prunotto G, Offor UT, Samarasinghe S, Wynn R, Vora A, Carpenter B, Gowdy C, McHugh K, Windebank KP, Rovelli AM, Slatter MA, Gennery AR, Veys P, Bacon CM, Bomken S, Lucchini G. HSCT provides effective treatment for lymphoproliferative disorders in children with primary immunodeficiency. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2020, 146(2), 447-450.
  • Zhou P, Blain AE, Newman AM, Zaka M, Chagaluka G, Adlar F, Offor UT, Broadbent C, Chaytor L, Whitehead A, Hall A, O'Connor H, Van Noorden S, Lampert I, Bailey S, Molyneux E, Bacon CM, Bomken S, Rand V. Sporadic and endemic Burkitt lymphoma have frequent FOXO1 mutations but distinct hotspots in the AKT recognition motif. Blood Advances 2019, 3(14), 2118-2127.
  • Offor UT, Akyea RK, Neequaye JE, Renner LA, Segbefia CI. The changing clinical pattern of endemic Burkitt lymphoma in Western Africa: Experience from a tertiary center in Ghana. Pediatric Blood & Cancer 2018, 65(10), e27275.
  • Offor UT, Basta NO, James PW, McNally RJQ. Is there a socioeconomic variation in survival from renal tumours in children and young people resident in northern England (1968-2012)?. Cancer Epidemiology 2017, 50(Part A), 92-98.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Offor UT, Long HM, Filby A, Ognjanovic M, Simmonds J, Parry G, Khushnood A, Reinhardt Z, Gennery AR, Bacon CM, Bomken S. Defining the systemic immune landscape in children at an increased risk of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease: The immunology of thymectomy and childhood cardiac transplant (ITHACA) study. In: 7th International Symposium on Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2022, New York, NY, USA: Leukemia Research.
  • Offor UT, Hinchliffe A, Ollett L, Bailey S. Improving the early detection and management of constipation in children and young people living with cancer in the North East of England. In: 53rd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. 2021, Virtual: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.