Dr Ane Appelt

Profile

I am a clinical radiotherapy researcher, with a background in medical physics and oncology.

I received my BSc in physics from the University of Southern Denmark in 2006 and my MSc in theoretical particle physics from the University of Durham in 2009, before completing a PhD in oncology from the University of Southern Denmark. Subsequently, I have held a postdoctoral position at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, with several long stays as visiting researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

I joined University of Leeds in 2016. I maintain links with the University of Southern Denmark, where I hold an honorary associate Professorship in Radiobiology.

Research interests

I am a cancer researcher, clinical trialist, and medical physicist working on optimizing and individualizing radiotherapy. My research focuses on improving patient outcomes through the development and implementation of optimised treatment strategies and novel technological innovations.

My interests include reirradiation, radiotherapy for organ preservation, clinical trial design and delivery, and the application of data science in radiation oncology. I am a strong advocate for research that is both clinically relevant and translatable into practice. This includes a core belief in the importance of clinical trials as a critical means for evaluating radiotherapy innovation. I lead a competitively funded, multicentre, randomised dose-escalation trial for rectal cancer and am involved in over a dozen other trials. 

I hold an honorary clinical position with the Department of Medical Physics at St James’s University Hospital, and spend a third of my time working in the radiotherapy department.

My clinical and academic expertice includes

• Improving re-irradiation through novel approaches to dose accumulation and treatment optimisation
• Innovative radiotherapy treatment strategies, in particular for lung and rectal cancer
• Quantitative radiation oncology: Application of biostatistics and data science to radiotherapy data
• Clinical trial design and delivery

• STA:RTUPP: Second Time Around: Re-irradiation Treatment Using Photons or Protons.

Qualifications

• Clinical Scientist, HCPC
• PhD in Oncology
• MSc in Elementary Particle Theory
• BSc in Physics

Professional memberships

• European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO)
• UK Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Research Working Group (CTRad)

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's
• Clinical Cancer Research Group
• The Radiotherapy Research Group