Karol Sikora
Encyclopedia
Dr Karol Sikora is a controversial and outspoken British
physician
specialising in oncology
. He is currently Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK and dean of the University of Buckingham
's medical school.
Army who arrived in Great Britain during World War II
. He was brought up in in Edinburgh, Stafford and London. He had a London County Council scholarship to Dulwich College before going to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge where he became a Foundation Scholar and obtained a double first.
's medical school
; the only private medical school in the UK.
Sikora became Buckingham's first Dean and Professor of Medicine in 2006. He has created a postgraduate school based at Ealing Hospital which runs a two year Clinical MD programme in internal medicine. The first Clinical MD in internal medicine graduates were awarded their degrees in March 2011. A premedical course run by Medipathways in Birkbeck College, London has been established for which the University awards a Certificate in Higher Education (Cert HE). Sikora is now creating a MBBS programme for graduate entrants using Milton Keynes Hospital as the main clinical base and using a version of the Leicester Medical School curriculum. Students will be charged the full cost of their tuition although bursaries and loans are available.
Sikora has co-authored or edited twenty books, including Treatment of Cancer and the Economics of Cancer Care. Sikora is known for his outspoken views, and has written for the Times
, the Observer
, the Daily Mail
, the New Statesman
, and other publications. He is on the Advisory Council of Reform
.
. During President Obama's campaign for healthcare reform, he appeared in a Republican Party
attack ad
in the United States criticising the NHS. The ad led Imperial College to seek legal advice to stop Sikora from claiming to be a professor of cancer medicine at Imperial; a claim that he had made repeatedly over the previous five years. Sikora denied this charge responding in a letter to the Guardian that he had been appointed to a lifetime Chair in the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (now part of Imperial) and that he was currently entitled to the professorship and still does a regular cancer clinic at Hammersmith Hospital.
. Buckingham for a short time offered a diploma in "integrated medicine". Sikora was a Foundation Fellow of Prince Charles' now-defunct alternative medicine lobby group the Foundation for Integrated Health and Chair of the Faculty of Integrated Medicine, which is unaffiliated with any university and also includes Drs Rosy Daniel and Mark Atkinson, who led Buckingham's "integrated medicine" course.
Sikora is also a "professional member" of the "College of Medicine", an organisation which brings together patients and clinicians on an equal footing Sikora's profile is on the College of Medicine website. He is a Patron of Penny Brohn Cancer Care, formerly the Bristol Cancer Help Centre and also of the Ian Rennie Hospice at Home.
, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds. The Daily Telegraph revealed that Sikora was one of three different doctors hired by the Libyan government to report to them about Megrahi's condition. Sikora's report concluded that Megrahi had only 3 months to live due to terminal prostate cancer. Sikora has since admitted that the "3 months" timescale was suggested to him by the Libyans. According to the Daily Telegraph, this was not the first time that Sikora had been economical with the truth. Sikora's medical diagnosis was not used by the Scottish Justice Minister since it had been paid for by Libya, but his diagnosis did agree with the medical evidence that was used. Once released, Megrahi returned to Libya and far outlived the 3-month prognosis. In July 2010, in an interview with the Sunday Times, Sikora said that "it was 'embarrassing' that Megrahi has lived much longer than expected." and "There was always a chance he could live for ten years, 20 years . . . But it's very unusual." This quote was then used first by the UK press and then by a group of USA Senators to undermine the Scottish decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds, and then to link the release instead with BP contracts in Libya. In reply, the Scottish Government stated categorically that Sikora's medical opinion was not used by the Scottish Justice Minister. Sikora has since complained about the way journalists have reported his views and stated that there was probably a less than 1% chance of Megrahi living 10 years.
Clinical Physiology (with Campbell, Dickinson, Slater and Edwards), 1984
Endocrine Problems in Cancer (with Roland T. Jung), 1984
Monoclonal Antibodies (with Howard Smedley), 1984
Molecular Biology and Human Disease (with Sandy McCleod), 1984
Cancer – what it is and how it’s treated (with Rob Stepney and Howard Smedley), 1985
Cancer – a study guide (with Howard Smedley), 1985
Cancer (with Howard Smedley), 1988
The Molecular Biology of Cancer (with Jonathan Waxman), 1989
Fight Cancer (with Hilary Thomas), 1989
Treatment of Cancer (with Keith Halnan and Pat Price), 1990, 1995, 2002, 2008
Genes and Cancer (editor), 1990
The cancer cell (with Gerard Evan and James Watson), 1991
Human genetic therapy (with Jonathan Harris), 1994
Cancer: a positive approach (with Hilary Thomas), 1995
Handbook of oncology (with Victor Barley and Jeff Tobias, 1998, 2004
The Realities of Rationing (with John Spiers et al.), 1999
The cancer survival kit (with Rosy Daniel), 2004
Cancer 2025: The future of cancer care (editor), 2005
Economics of Cancer Care (with Nick Bosanquet), 2006
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
specialising in oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
. He is currently Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK and dean of the University of Buckingham
University of Buckingham
The University of Buckingham is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the...
's medical school.
Early life
Karol Sikora was born in 1948. His father was a Captain in the PolishPoles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
Army who arrived in Great Britain during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He was brought up in in Edinburgh, Stafford and London. He had a London County Council scholarship to Dulwich College before going to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge where he became a Foundation Scholar and obtained a double first.
Career
After obtaining his medical degree in Cambridge and Middlesex Hospital,London he went on to do a PhD in the Laboratory for Molecular Biology and then a clinical fellowship in medical oncology at Stanford University, California. Sikora first became an NHS Consultant Oncologist in 1980 in Addenbrokes Hospital, Cambridge and set up the first cancer clinic at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon. He was Clinical Director of Cancer Services at Hammersmith Hospital for 12 years and was seconded as Chief of the WHO Cancer Programme for two years. He is currently Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK and dean of the University of BuckinghamUniversity of Buckingham
The University of Buckingham is an independent, non-sectarian, research and teaching university located in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Great Ouse. It was originally founded as Buckingham University College in the 1970s and received its Royal Charter from the...
's medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
; the only private medical school in the UK.
Sikora became Buckingham's first Dean and Professor of Medicine in 2006. He has created a postgraduate school based at Ealing Hospital which runs a two year Clinical MD programme in internal medicine. The first Clinical MD in internal medicine graduates were awarded their degrees in March 2011. A premedical course run by Medipathways in Birkbeck College, London has been established for which the University awards a Certificate in Higher Education (Cert HE). Sikora is now creating a MBBS programme for graduate entrants using Milton Keynes Hospital as the main clinical base and using a version of the Leicester Medical School curriculum. Students will be charged the full cost of their tuition although bursaries and loans are available.
Sikora has co-authored or edited twenty books, including Treatment of Cancer and the Economics of Cancer Care. Sikora is known for his outspoken views, and has written for the Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, the Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, and other publications. He is on the Advisory Council of Reform
Reform (think tank)
Reform is a British centre-right, liberal, think tank based in London, whose declared mission is to set out a better way to deliver public services and economic prosperity via private sector involvement and market de-regulation. Reform describes itself as independent and non-partisan...
.
Promotion of molecular medicine
In the 1980s, while head of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Cambridge, he espoused the cause of "Molecular Medicine" and did much to promote the idea that a better understanding of molecular biology would provide better diagnostics and treatments for cancer within 20 years. At Hammersmith he created a research laboratory funded by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to specifically address this issue. Many of the new drugs for cancer such as Herceptin, Avastin, Glivec and Rituximab have come from this molecular revolution. One of his current commercial enterprises is CancerPartnersUK a company that is seeking to make up the NHS shortfall in radiotherapy equipment which is way below European standards in both capacity and technical quality.Criticism of National Health Service
Sikora is very critical of cancer care available on the National Health ServiceNational Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. During President Obama's campaign for healthcare reform, he appeared in a Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
attack ad
Attack ad
In political campaigns, an attack ad is an advertisement whose message is meant as a personal attack against another candidate or political party...
in the United States criticising the NHS. The ad led Imperial College to seek legal advice to stop Sikora from claiming to be a professor of cancer medicine at Imperial; a claim that he had made repeatedly over the previous five years. Sikora denied this charge responding in a letter to the Guardian that he had been appointed to a lifetime Chair in the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (now part of Imperial) and that he was currently entitled to the professorship and still does a regular cancer clinic at Hammersmith Hospital.
Promotion of alternative medicine
Sikora and the School of medicine at Buckingham have in the past been supportive of alternative medicineAlternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
. Buckingham for a short time offered a diploma in "integrated medicine". Sikora was a Foundation Fellow of Prince Charles' now-defunct alternative medicine lobby group the Foundation for Integrated Health and Chair of the Faculty of Integrated Medicine, which is unaffiliated with any university and also includes Drs Rosy Daniel and Mark Atkinson, who led Buckingham's "integrated medicine" course.
Sikora is also a "professional member" of the "College of Medicine", an organisation which brings together patients and clinicians on an equal footing Sikora's profile is on the College of Medicine website. He is a Patron of Penny Brohn Cancer Care, formerly the Bristol Cancer Help Centre and also of the Ian Rennie Hospice at Home.
Release of Lockerbie bomber
In September 2009, the convicted Lockerbie bomberPan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds. The Daily Telegraph revealed that Sikora was one of three different doctors hired by the Libyan government to report to them about Megrahi's condition. Sikora's report concluded that Megrahi had only 3 months to live due to terminal prostate cancer. Sikora has since admitted that the "3 months" timescale was suggested to him by the Libyans. According to the Daily Telegraph, this was not the first time that Sikora had been economical with the truth. Sikora's medical diagnosis was not used by the Scottish Justice Minister since it had been paid for by Libya, but his diagnosis did agree with the medical evidence that was used. Once released, Megrahi returned to Libya and far outlived the 3-month prognosis. In July 2010, in an interview with the Sunday Times, Sikora said that "it was 'embarrassing' that Megrahi has lived much longer than expected." and "There was always a chance he could live for ten years, 20 years . . . But it's very unusual." This quote was then used first by the UK press and then by a group of USA Senators to undermine the Scottish decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds, and then to link the release instead with BP contracts in Libya. In reply, the Scottish Government stated categorically that Sikora's medical opinion was not used by the Scottish Justice Minister. Sikora has since complained about the way journalists have reported his views and stated that there was probably a less than 1% chance of Megrahi living 10 years.
Works
Interferon and cancer, 1983 Clinical Physiology (with Campbell, Dickinson, Slater and Edwards), 1984
Endocrine Problems in Cancer (with Roland T. Jung), 1984
Monoclonal Antibodies (with Howard Smedley), 1984
Molecular Biology and Human Disease (with Sandy McCleod), 1984
Cancer – what it is and how it’s treated (with Rob Stepney and Howard Smedley), 1985
Cancer – a study guide (with Howard Smedley), 1985
Cancer (with Howard Smedley), 1988
The Molecular Biology of Cancer (with Jonathan Waxman), 1989
Fight Cancer (with Hilary Thomas), 1989
Treatment of Cancer (with Keith Halnan and Pat Price), 1990, 1995, 2002, 2008
Genes and Cancer (editor), 1990
The cancer cell (with Gerard Evan and James Watson), 1991
Human genetic therapy (with Jonathan Harris), 1994
Cancer: a positive approach (with Hilary Thomas), 1995
Handbook of oncology (with Victor Barley and Jeff Tobias, 1998, 2004
The Realities of Rationing (with John Spiers et al.), 1999
The cancer survival kit (with Rosy Daniel), 2004
Cancer 2025: The future of cancer care (editor), 2005
Economics of Cancer Care (with Nick Bosanquet), 2006