CV
Emeritus Professor Leslie G Walker
Leslie G Walker is Emeritus Professor of Cancer Rehabilitation at the University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom. Since retiring from the NHS in 2009, he continues to carry out research and give invited lectures.
Until November 2009, in addition to holding the Foundation Chair of Cancer Rehabilitation, he was the Clinical Lead for the Division of Cancer in the Postgraduate Medical Institute, University of Hull. He was also Director of the Institute of Rehabilitation, and a founding member of the Faculty of the Hull York Medical School (HYMS).
In 1999, he established and directed a unique Oncology Health Service (funded by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust). By the time he retired from the NHS in 2009, more than 2,500 people with cancer were accessing the Service for the first time each year, and each week some 375 people with cancer and their relatives were attending the custom built, fully integrated Oncology Health Centre located within the Queen's Centre for Oncology and Haematology at Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham. The service won a number of awards, and the approach was known internationally as the "Hull model".
His research interests include the psychoneuroimmunology of breast, brain and colorectal cancers; relaxation, hypnotherapy and guided imagery to alleviate the side effects of various cancer treatments; the evaluation of different models of providing psychosocial care; Li Fraumeni syndrome; the role of whole genome sequencing in general practice; psychosocial aspects of screening, and the development and evaluation of psychological and complementary interventions for people with cancer. Over the years, he has received funding from a wide range of sources, including the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, the HTA Programme, the NHS R&D Programme (Cancer), the Scottish Home and Health Department and Dimbleby Cancer Care.
He is a former Co-Chair of the Nominating Committee of the International Psychosocial Oncology Society, and he has served two terms of Office as Chairman of the British Psychosocial Oncology Society and the Research Committee of Breast Cancer Care. He has also been a Member of the Population and Behavioural Sciences Committee of Cancer Research UK; the Council of the British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis; the Research Committee of the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative (Department of Health); the National Cancer Research Institute Complementary Therapies Clinical Studies Development Group; the Tenovus Research Committee, three Medical Research Council Multicentre Trial Steering Committees; The National Institute of Health Research Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre College of Experts; the Clinical Reference Group of Breast Cancer Care; the Clinical and Scientific Committee of Penny Brohn UK, and the Clinical Experts Reference Group of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
Current Editorial Board membership includes the European Journal of Psychiatry, Contemporary Hypnosis & Integrative Therapy, and Personality in a Changing World: Health, Adaptation, Development.
Professor Walker has given numerous Invited Lectures and Keynote Addresses throughout the world, and he has over 300 publications to his name (see Publications).
In 2001, he was awarded a Fellowship by the British Psychological Society "as a result of his distinguished contribution to clinical psychology, in particular his contribution to the psychosocial understanding and management of cancer", and, in 2015, he was made an Honorary Life Member of the British Association for Clinical and Academic Hypnosis "in recognition of his contribution to hypnosis and the Society".
Until recently, he was a Chartered Scientist and a Chartered Clinical and Health Psychologist, and he is also a former Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society; the Society of Biology, and the Royal Society of Medicine.
He is an Honorary Professor at Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India and he was previously an Honorary Professor at Manipal University, Karnataka, India.