Allan Spigelman
Allan Spigelman | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sydney, Australia |
| Spouse(s) | Ruth Spigelman |
Professor Allan Spigelman specialises in Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Cancer Genetics and Education - Surgery, Cancer, Clinical Governance, Clinical Research, Gastrointestinal Diseases. Hereditary cancer, Patient Safety and Clinical Quality and Cancer Genetics.[1]. Professor Spigelman’s overlapping contributions to the fields of medicine, medical research and medical education span several decades and have had positive local, national and international impact.
Early Years and Education
Professor Spigelman attended Sydney Boys High School where he was Vice Captain. He is a graduate of the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Royal College of Surgeons of England [2].
Career
United Kingdom
Arriving in London in 1985, following completion of his Australian medical school and surgical fellowship training, he was awarded the prestigious McNeill Love Prize for Excellence in Surgery in 1987, followed by the Alan Edwards Prize for the best presentation to the Clinical Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, London for 1988/89. Described (Lancet 1989) the first classification system of duodenal polyposis and cancer in Polyposis. This has been adopted internationally as the Spigelman classification [3].
This work continues to guide clinicians and researchers in dealing with patients with duodenal polyposis, in terms of frequency of endoscopy and timing to surgery, so as to prevent duodenal cancer. Follow-up over 30 years has shown the benefits of the approach described first in the 1989 paper. As the leading expert on the upper gastrointestinal tract in hereditary gastrointestinal cancer, he was chosen to present on the evolution of the Spigelman staging system and associated research into the role of bile, DNA adducts and modifying genes in hereditary gastrointestinal cancer at the Royal College of Physicians meeting in London on December 1, 2017. This was released as a video on the Advances in Surgery website in April 2018 [4].
Professor Spigelman pioneered investigative research examining the role of carcinogens in bile in the genesis of duodenal cancer, in collaboration with teams at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey and Porton Down. In recognition of his contribution to the field of cancer genetics, he was appointed and remains Senior Honorary Research Fellow to the St Mark’s Hospital Polyposis Registry, London. This is only the second such appointment in its 100 year history.
Importantly, he established London’s first one-stop breast care service for women and men with breast lumps, incorporating a true multi-disciplinary team approach, at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. He was awarded the Hewlett Packard Innovation & Quality in Health Care Award in 1995. This service continues to this day.
Australia
He returned to Australia to become the Professor of Surgical Science at the University of Newcastle, where he established the Hunter Family Cancer Service which cares for 10,000 families in the Hunter and New England areas and much of regional and rural NSW and was Director of Cancer Services and a member of the Area Health Service Executive in his capacity as Australia’s first Director of Clinical Governance. Professor Spigelman conducted the first comprehensive national and state analysis of colorectal cancer care whilst in the Hunter and continues to collaborate in this sphere on an international basis.
Professor Spigelman moved to UNSW and St Vincent’s Hospital in 2006, where he maintains an ongoing interest in patient safety and clinical quality, as well as cancer genetics [5].
Noting a disconnect between the Garvan Institute cancer research program and St Vincents Hospital clinicians, he forged a new partnership between the two co-located organisations. This led to significant joint fundraising and planning efforts, culminating in the delivery of the vision of a single facility containing patients, researchers and clinicians, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre (TKCC). This was opened by the Prime Minister of the day in August 2012. Professor Spigelman played a critical role in developing TKCC concept, overseeing its delivery by membership of the Project Control Group, and was its founding Director of Clinical Services.
Appointed Professor of Surgery, UNSW St Vincent’s Clinical School, Sydney in 2006 and Clinical Associate Dean (Head of Clinical School) in 2007 (to 2017), in which capacity he developed the School’s first strategic plan, which focused on the areas of the Student Experience, Research and Community Engagement.
As a member of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (2010-) he published seminal papers comparing cancer survival in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK (Lancet). Professor Spigelman was elected to the Academy of Surgical educators, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (2011-) and is a life member of the Surgical Research Society of Australia [6].
Personal Life
Professor Spigelman's parents, Gustawa and Majloch, are Holocaust survivors who feature in the graphic novel Maus, by Spigelman's cousin Art Spiegelman. They were 2 of 15 survivors among 72 Spigelman relatives. Spigelman's surname was originally spelt Szpiegelman until his parents altered it to Spigelman after moving to Australia after the Holocaust ended.
Spigelman and his two brothers, James Spigelman and Mark Spigelman, have often been recognised for their achievements following the Holocaust.[7].
Spigelman is married to Ruth, and has three children; Joshua, Naomi and Isaac. Spigelman is an avid Rugby League fan having grown up playing in Maroubra, Sydney. He supports the Newcastle Knights and attends every home game.
References
- ↑ "Professor Allan David Spigelman".
- ↑ "Professor Allan Spigelman – the Kinghorn Cancer Centre".
- ↑ Mathus-Vliegen, E. M.; Boparai, K. S.; Dekker, E.; Van Geloven, N. (2011). "Progression of duodenal adenomatosis in familial adenomatous polyposis: Due to ageing of subjects and advances in technology". Familial Cancer. 10 (3): 491–499. doi:10.1007/s10689-011-9433-2. PMC 3175343. PMID 21416262.
- ↑ https://aischannel.com/conference/st-marks-the-upper-gi-tract/
- ↑ "Professor Allan Spigelman – the Kinghorn Cancer Centre".
- ↑ https://stvcs.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/stvcs/About_us/IGA_9_9_2019_14_32_52_777.pdf
- ↑ "His brother is one of our most celebrated judges, but Mark Spigelman has an even more extraordinary tale. He survived the Nazis by dressing as a girl". 22 May 2009.
This article "Allan Spigelman" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Allan Spigelman. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
