Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield is Professor of Psycho-oncology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex where she is Director of the Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C) group.

Dame Lesley originally trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital, London but then did a BSc in Experimental Psychology at Sussex. Research for her doctorate examining the perceptual correlates of optic nerve damage in demyelinating diseases was completed at the Universities of Sussex and Cambridge.

In 1991 she became the full-time Director of a Psychosocial Oncology Group and in 1997 was awarded the first European Chair in Psycho-oncology from University College, London. Her research interests are wide and include the measurement of quality of life in clinical trials of cancer therapy and the training of communication skills for health care professionals in cancer.

She has published over 500 papers, many book chapters, 3 textbooks and numerous evidence-based educational materials for the teaching of communication skills. She lectures and runs training workshops throughout the world in psychosocial oncology, quality of life assessment and communication skills.

She is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Cancer Physicians UK and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2016.