Personal Profile
Dr Sharadah Essapen is a Clinical Oncologist with special clinical interest in lower gastrointestinal cancers and anal cancer. She is also currently Deputy Chief of Service for Oncology at St Luke’s Cancer Centre.
She was appointed as Consultant Clinical Oncologist at St Luke’s Cancer Centre (the Royal Surrey County NHS Foundation Trust) in February 2003.
Her NHS bases are at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey and Frimley Park Hospital. As well as seeing patients in these hospitals, Dr Essapen continues to play a pivotal role in improving patient care and has previously held the posts of both Lead Clinician for Radiotherapy and Lead Clinician for Chemotherapy at St Luke’s Cancer Centre.
Training and Appointment
Dr Essapen undertook her formal Oncology training in a number of large cancer centres – Barts and The London NHS Trust, The Royal Marsden Hospital and the Royal Surrey County Hospital. Prior to her consultant appointment, she undertook a two-year MD research programme that investigated whether specific proteins in colon cancer could predict prognosis.
Dr Essapen is trained in the delivery of Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) for both rectal and anal cancers. She also has a full understanding of the role of other targeted therapies such as Papillon, SIRT and Knanoknife. She is fully trained in the use of systemic chemotherapy, including monoclonal targeted therapies and immunotherapy.
Research
She plays a significant role in clinical research at St Luke’s Cancer Centre (SLCC) at The Royal Surrey County Hospital and is the Principal Investigator on numerous national and international colorectal and anal trials. She is also involved in collaborative laboratory-based research investigating the prognostic role of cancer cell surface receptors, and provides regular clinical supervision to PhD researchers, and has published widely in her area of expertise.
Dr Essapen is fully committed to supporting research and improving outcomes for her patients.
Current Practice
Dr Essapen provides two clinics a week to patients at Mount Alvernia Hospital, which houses a specialist Cancer Centre, St Martha’s. Within this department, there are nine patient rooms and six pods for chemotherapy. The Centre provides outpatient and day case services to patients. The service is provided by oncology specialist nurses and consultants and covers diagnostics, intravenous and oral chemotherapy, chemotherapy instillations and monoclonal antibodies therapy. Chemotherapy is given for a number of tumours including breast, urological, prostate, bowel, ovarian, bladder, haematological conditions, upper and lower GI, brain, pancreas, head and neck and melanoma. There is a specialist oncology physiotherapy service, and patients have access to acupuncture and alternative therapies, as well as a dedicated Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) who works alongside Dr Essapen on delivery of treatment.
