Tim Helliwell graduated in medicine at the University of Cambridge and undertook his training in histopathology in the university Department of Pathology in Liverpool. Since 1984 he has been a Consultant Histopathologist at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital (appointed in 1984) and is currently Clinical Director for Cellular Pathology in Liverpool Clinical Laboratories and Honorary Professor of Pathology, University of Liverpool.
As a Consultant Histopathologist in Liverpool for 31 years, Tim has wide experience in diagnostic work. In 1997 the Department introduced specialist reporting and since then he has been lead histopathologist for head and neck, thyroid, bone, soft tissue and skeletal muscle pathology.
Tim participates in External Quality Assurance Schemes for orthopaedic (soft tissue and bone) and head and neck pathology and regularly undertakes undergraduate and post-graduate teaching in these areas.
His MD thesis involved studies of techniques to demonstrate damage to skeletal muscle. He is the author or co-author of over 126 publications, and has contributed to chapters of the current revision of the WHO Classification of Tumours of the Head and Neck. Tim’s ongoing research interests are in the molecular pathology of head and neck cancer and soft tissue sarcomas, and in evidence-based pathology, particularly for head and neck cancer.
The lead author for the national pathology guidelines for head and neck cancer published by the Royal College of Pathologists, he has been a member of the NICE editorial board for the Improving Outcomes Guidance for Head and Neck Cancer. He was Chair of the Merseyside and Cheshire Pathology Cancer Network Group (2004-7), and helped to shape the development of cancer pathology dataseets as Chair of the Cancer Services Working Group of the Royal College of Pathologists (2005-9).
He was sub-specialty adviser in ENT Pathology (2008-2012) to the Royal College of Pathologists and lead pathologist on the head and neck cancer site specific group of the National Cancer Intelligence Network and lead pathologist for review of national cancer dataset (2009-2012). An elected member of Council of the Royal College of Pathologists (2012-2014), leading on quality and performance indicators, he was elected as Vice President of the Royal College of Pathologists in November 2014 with responsibilities for training, assessments, examinations and research.
Prof Helliwell has been appointed to the Board of the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR) representing the Royal College of Pathologists. The ICCR was founded in 2014 by major pathology organisations from around the world, to produce internationally standardised and evidence based datasets for the pathology reporting of cancer. The goal of the ICCR is to improve cancer patient outcomes worldwide and to advance international benchmarking in cancer management.
Title:
Cancer Pathology Datasets – The international Perspective
Abstract
The International Collaboration for Cancer Reporting (ICCR) was founded in 2011 as a collaboration between the Australasian, US and United Kingdom Colleges of Pathology and the Canadian Association of Pathologists, with the European Society of Pathology joining the collaborative in 2014. The purpose of the ICCR is to develop and publish a set of validated, evidence-based cancer pathology datasets that can be used internationally to standardise cancer pathology reporting and facilitate national and international bench marking for monitoring cancer diagnosis and outcomes. This should largely avoid the duplication of effort for each country in creating datasets and software development, and will make agreed datasets available to resource poor countries, against which they can assess their progress in managing cancers. The ICCR aims to produce 50 datasets covering >90% of cancers. Datasets are produced according to rigorous protocols by international panels with central moderation. To date, datasets for gynaecological cancers, lung cancers and melanoma have been published, with urological cancers in the process of consultation and head and neck cancers starting to be developed. This presentation will explore the challenges and successes of cancer datasets and the ways in which they might be relevant in the future.