Tim Underwood is Professor of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, UK. He is an internationally recognised expert Upper GI surgeon with over 10 years’ experience as a consultant.
He trained in London and the Wessex region before completing a PhD in Molecular Biology and taking up an NIHR Clinical Lectureship in Surgery in 2008. In 2011 he was awarded a UK Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Fellowship and in the same year he won the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland Prize and Gold Medal for outstanding performance in the Intercollegiate Specialty Examinations (General Surgery). He became a Cancer Research UK & Royal College of Surgeons of England Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellow in April 2017. Tim has been further recognised with the Sir Standford Cade Medal in 2018 and the Moynihan Lectureship and Medal in 2021.
Professor Underwood leads a programme of research studying the role of the tumour microenvironment in cancer development and progression with a particular interest in oesophageal cancer and tumour ecology. His team focus on understanding the clinical and molecular determinants of response to therapy and the development of new treatments that target the tumour microenvironment, including immunotherapy.
Professor Underwood is Honorary Secretary of the Surgical Research Society. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Oesophageal Cancer Clinical and Molecular Stratification (OCCAMS) consortium, a UK-wide collaboration that is defining the genetic landscape of oesophageal adenocarcinoma, including a new molecular classification. He is a founder of the National Oesophagogastric MDT, part of the UK & Ireland Oesophagogastric Cancer Group.
Tim works nationally on behalf AUGIS and the Royal College of Surgeons of England as Surgical Specialty Lead for oesophageal cancer for the UK. He has led a programme of work to apply machine learning architecture to the National OesophagoGastric Cancer Audit, leading to multiple high-impact publications. He is part of the NHS England Oesophago-Gastric Cancer Surgery Service Review working group. Professor Underwood has developed a portfolio of activities to raise public awareness of the symptoms of oesophageal cancer with the goal of early diagnosis, including numerous radio and TV appearances. He is a past Chairman of the Oesophageal Cancer Westminster Campaign and a trustee of Heartburn Cancer UK.