John Neoptolemos


John P. Neoptolemos is a British surgeon and professor who specialised in pancreas research. His specific areas of research are diagnosis, biological predictors of treatment response and therapies of pancreatic cancer as well as acute, chronic, and hereditary pancreatitis. Neoptolemos was a British Department of Health Platinum Award holder from 2004. He was elected a Member of the Academia Europaea in 2019.

Early life, education, career

Neoptolemos was born in Pano Zodhia, Cyprus and raised in London. He graduated from the University of Cambridge (Churchill College), and at Guy's Hospital, London. Neoptolemos completed his academic and clinical training in Leicester under the tutelage of Professor Sir Peter Bell, being awarded a Doctorate in Medicine in 1986 for his thesis "Effect of surgery on monocyte function in patients with colorectal cancer". During surgical training in Ulm he met Markus Büchler, together setting up the European Study for Pancreas Cancer Research later.
After appointments at the University of Birmingham, Neoptolemos was elected Chair of Surgery of Liverpool University and Head of Department of Surgery in 1996 to focus on pancreas disease research together with Professor Ole Petersen for the University, and to develop the surgical services of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Neoptolemos became the director of the newly established Liverpool Clinical Trial Unit from 1996 and the chairman of the Pancreas Tumour Multi-Disciplinary Team at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital from 2001. Neoptolemos and Petersen established the National Institutes of Health Research Pancreas Biomedical Research Unit from 2007, renewed again in 2012.
In 2005 he became head of the new School of Cancer Studies.
From 2007 he became the director of the Cancer Research UK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit.
Neoptolemos was co-director of the CRUK and NIHR Liverpool Experimental Cancer Centre from 2007 until 2012 and from then the director of the LCTU GCP Labs as well as the director the CRUK from 2011 until 2013. The Cancer Research UK Liverpool Centre received the Freedom of the City of Liverpool on 8 February 2012.
In 2014 the LCTU Cancer Research UK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit received accreditation as National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Trials Unit. The associated Pancreas Unit became the Health Services Journal National Award Winner in 2013.

National and international scientific role

Neoptolemos was the Clinical Chair for the NICE Guidelines on Pancreatic Cancer. John Neoptolemos has been Secretary and President of the European Pancreas Club, as well as President of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the International Association of Pancreatology. As IAP President he developed the first IAP Guidelines in 2003 – on acute pancreatitis.
Neoptolemos received international recognition including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the EPC ; the Ruth Brufsky Award for Pancreas Cancer Research ; and the Henry Lynch Award for Inherited Pancreas Diseases.

Scientific merits

In 1989 Neoptolemos was the founder of the European Study for Pancreas Cancer Research that has led the way for internationally collaborative pancreas cancer trials. The ESPAC-1 trial was the first trial to establish the benefit of adjuvant treatment in pancreatic cancer favoring chemotherapy rather than chemoradiotherapy. In 1997 he established the European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer for the study of genetic pancreatic diseases. In 2005 Neoptolemos co-founded the International Study Group for Pancreas Surgery with Markus Büchler and others.

Awards and honors (selection)

Books (selection)

  1. Neoptolemos JP. Cancer of the Pancreas.Clinical Gastroenterology, London, Baillière Tindall, Vol 4, No 4 1990
  2. Lemoine N, Cooke T, Neoptolemos JP. Cancer: A Molecular Approach. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific, 1993
  3. Neoptolemos JP, Lemoine N. Pancreatic Cancer: Molecular & Clinical Advances. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific 1996
  4. Beger HG, Warshaw A, Carr-Locke DL, Russell RCG, Buchler M, Neoptolemos JP, Saar M.. The Pancreas. Boston, Blackwell Scientific 1998
  5. Neoptolemos JP. Acute Pancreatitis. Clinical Gastroenterology, London, Bailière Tindall 1999; Vol. 13, No. 2
  6. Gress TM, Neoptolemos JP, Lemoine NR, Real FX. Exocrine pancreas cancer. The European Pancreatic Cancer-Research Cooperative. Felsenstein CCCP, Hannover. 2005
  7. Neoptolemos JP and Bhutani MS. Fast Facts. Pancreas and Biliary Tree. Health Press Abingdon. 2006
  8. Neoptolemos JP and Ghaneh P. Cancer of the Pancreas. Best Practice & Research in Clinical Gastroenterology. London, Baillière Tindall
  9. Beger HG, Warshaw A, Büchler M, Kozarek R, Lerch M, Neoptolemos JP, Shiratori K, Whitcomb D.. The Pancreas, Second Edition. Blackwell Publishing, Massachusetts, US, 2008
  10. Neoptolemos JP, Urrutia R, Abbruzzese JL, Büchler MW. Pancreatic Cancer. Springer, New York, 2010. Two Volumes
  11. HG Beger HG, Nakao A, Neoptolemos JP, Peng SY, Sarr MG. Pancreatic Cancer, Cystic Neoplasms and Endocrine Tumors: Diagnosis and Management.Wiley Blackwell Publishers. 2018
  12. Beger HG, Warshaw A, Hruban R, Büchler M, Lerch M, Neoptolemos JP, Tooru Shimosegawa, Whitcomb D.. The Pancreas, Third Edition. Blackwell Publishing, Massachusetts, US, 2018
  13. Neoptolemos JP, Urrutia R, Abbruzzese JL, Büchler MW. Pancreatic Cancer. Springer, New York. Second Edition. 2018. Three Volumes
  14. Beger HG, Warshaw A, Hruban R, Büchler M, Lerch M, Neoptolemos JP, Tooru Shimosegawa, Whitcomb D.. The Pancreas, Third Edition. The Pancreas: An Integrated Textbook of Basic Science. Chinese Edition. John Wiley & Sons Limited Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom. PO19 8SQ. ISBN 978-1-119-18839-1. 2019