Karen to lead our cancer centre
Dr Karen Tipples has been appointed as the divisional director for the Barts Cancer Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, following a competitive recruitment process.
Now a consultant clinical oncologist, Karen began her career by joining the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme. She went on to hold the general manager position for learning disability services at Newham Hospital and completed a post graduate diploma in NHS management.
Karen has been a consultant at St Bartholomew’s Hospital since 2012 and has held various senior positions including as clinical director for radiotherapy and urological cancers and the lead clinician for the prostate cancer specialist clinic.
She has a keen interest in training and education and is the national clinical lead for recruiting junior doctors to oncology training. She is a member of the Royal College of Radiologists’ National Specialty Training Board; she was named the RCP’s trainer of the year and was recognised for her outstanding contribution to training during the Covid pandemic.
Karen said: "I'm really excited about becoming the divisional director and I'm proud to be part an amazing team of staff who show such care and dedication to our patients.
"I want to help us make some real changes that will improve our patient experience and will support our continued drive to deliver world class care across all parts of the division."
Karen will work closely with Professor Tom Powles who was named as the chair for our cancer division earlier this year.
Simon reappointed as Heart Centre director
Meanwhile, Barts Heart Centre divisional director Simon Woldman has been reappointed to the role.
Simon qualified from the University of Glasgow in 1989. After working as a consultant cardiologist for several years in Ayr, he moved to London in 2006 as part of UCL’s Heart Hospital team.
Simon joined St Bartholomew’s in 2015 when the merger occurred between teams from the Heart, London Chest and St Bartholomew's hospitals.
Barts Heart Centre is the largest cardiology and cardiac surgery centre on a single site in Europe. Simon became its director in 2019.
He has a special interest in heart failure and the management of endocarditis and earlier this year was named an honorary clinical professor by our academic partners Queen Mary University of London.
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