Inaugural Lecture of Professor Sandra Strauss

Inaugural Lecture of Professor Sandra Strauss
26^th March 2026

After completing medical training at Oxford and Barts and The London Medical School, and junior doctor positions, Sandra began her medical oncology training working on the adolescent unit at the Middlesex Hospital, where she first developed an interest in sarcoma and teenage and young adult (TYA) cancer. She subsequently completed a Cancer Research UK-funded PhD fellowship in experimental therapeutics and was appointed Senior Lecturer and Consultant Medical Oncologist at UCL in 2009, being awarded a Career Development Award from the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration (SARC) the same year.

Her research focuses on developing and investigating new therapies for sarcoma patients and building collaborations to improve outcomes for these rare and difficult to treat cancers. She has led national and international clinical trials across, including a national multi-disciplinary trial for patients with osteosarcoma, ICONIC, leading to her winning a Bone Cancer Research Trust “Bone Idol” award in 2021 for her progress in research. She chairs the EuroEwing consortium (EEC), a European collaboration to improve outcome for patients with Ewing sarcoma and the UK Collaborative for Cancer Clinical Research (UKCCCR) Bone Sarcoma Subgroup. She is a member of the sarcoma faculty of European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), acting as track chair in 2025 and lead author of current ESMO guidelines for bone sarcomas.

She is also National Clinical lead for Sarcoma and rare cancers for the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), leading a research programme focused on understanding variations in patient pathways and access to specialist services to reduce inequality.

Sandra was appointed Professor of Medical and Teenage Young Adult Oncology at University College London in 2024.

This lecture shares the story of Sandra’s journey in sarcoma research, recognizing the value and importance of all those involved, who work in collaboration to improve outcomes in this challenging cancer.