Professor Philip Beer

BMedSci BM.BS MRCP FRCPath PhD

Honorary Professor, Translational Medicine

Biography

Philip is a physician scientist with a focus on precision medicine in the field of oncology drug development and patient stratification. He followed his initial training as a haematologist with 8 years’ research in Cambridge and Vancouver, focused on understanding genotype-phenotype correlations in haematological cancers and developing improved preclinical models of leukaemia. Since then, Philip has worked cross-sector in academic, healthcare and biotech roles with a unified goal of accelerating oncology drug development and ensuring that each patient receives the most suitable therapy.

Philip currently heads research and translational medicine at Step Pharma, who are developing novel therapeutic agents to treat patients with haematological cancers. He is also an honorary consultant at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where he is part of team exploring innovative approaches to democratise access to comprehensive biomarker profiling and maximise clinical trial opportunities for those living with cancer.

Research

Philip’s research interests include the use of cancer genomic analysis to better understand disease behaviour and response to therapy, and the development of advanced preclinical cancer models based on human cells. Philip currently holds honorary research positions at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK, and the Mayo Clinic, Mn, USA.

Teaching
  • SSIP Phase 1

Publications

Philip's publications are available on Google Scholar.

Selected Publications

Beer PA*, Cooke SL*, Chang DK, Biankin AV. Reasons to be testing: the dawn of complex molecular profiling in routine oncology practice. Ann Oncol. 2019 Nov 1;30(11):1691-1694. *Equal contribution

Lacy SL*, Barrans S*, Beer PA*, Painter D, Smith A, Roman E, Cooke SL, Ruiz C, Glover P, Van Hoppe S, Webster N, Campbell P, Tooze R, Patmore R, Burton C, Crouch S, Hodson DJ. Targeted sequencing in DLBCL, molecular subtypes, and outcomes: a Haematological Malignancy Research Network report. Blood. 2020 May 14;135(20):1759-1771. *Equal contribution.

Cooke SL and Beer PA. Bridging the gaps between cancer genomics, computational solutions and healthcare delivery. Expert Rev Precis Med Drug Dev. 2020 Oct 5:6, 409-411.

Beer PA*, Cooke SL*, Chang DK, Biankin AV. Defining the clinical genomic landscape for real-world precision oncology. Genomics. 2020 Nov;112(6):5324-5330. *Equal contribution.

Tsimberidou AM*, Beer PA*, Cartwright C, Haymaker C, Vo HH, Kiany S, Cecil ARL, Dow J, Haque K, Silva FA, Coe L, Berryman H, Bone EA, Nogueras-Gonzalez GM, Vining D, McElwaine-Johnn H and Wistuba II. Preclinical development and first in human phase I study of KA2507, a selective and potent inhibitor of histone deacetylase 6, for patients with refractory solid tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Jul 1;27(13):3584-3594. *Co-corresponding authors.

External roles
  • Member, International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC): unlocking the clinical utility of complex genomic profiling in cancer through the ARGO and PCAWG projects.
  • Member, Friends of Cancer Research Tumor Mutational Burden Working Group, the PrecisionFDA TMB challenge bench-marking project and the newly commissioned Homologous Recombination Deficiency Harmonization Project.
  • Chair, Genomics Working Group convened by The British In Vitro Diagnostic Association.