Professor Justin Stebbing is a Professor of Biomedical Sciences at ARU, Cambridge. He was previously a Professor of Cancer Medicine and Oncology at Imperial College, London (2009-2022), specializing in a range of malignancies, their treatment with immunotherapy (breast, GI and lung and clinical trials) and linking the laboratory to the clinic and vice versa. He is now a Visiting Professor there.
Stebbing's track record as a clinician scientist has led to more than 650 peer-reviewed papers, more than 50 of which have appeared in journals with an impact factor exceeding 10, the vast majority as first or last author (current H-score on Google Scholar = 84).
He originally studied medicine at Trinity College, Oxford, gaining a first-class degree before moving to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA then returning to complete training at the Royal Marsden and St Barts Hospitals. In 2007, Stebbing was appointed a Senior Lecturer at Imperial College, London and a Consultant Oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, then a Professor of Cancer Medicine and Oncology in 2009 (he is now a Visiting Professor there).
The nature of Stebbing's scientific contributions and international leadership in translational research were recognized by being awarded the NIHR’s first research translational professorship, becoming Editor-in-Chief of Oncogene - Springer Nature’s cancer journal - and elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Stebbing was also Chair of the Irish Cancer Society, and a national charity, Action Against Cancer, was set up to support his research.
He originally commenced his translational research career investigating the link between immunology, tumors, and viruses, establishing mechanisms of non-progression in diseases such as HIV-1. He extended this to cancer, showing how antiretrovirals worked to prevent tumorigenesis at both an individual level and in large cohorts. This occurred as soon as he arrived back in the UK following his residency program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and he completed an MRC-funded PhD fellowship on the contribution of viruses and immunity to cancer and its eradication.
Stebbing's papers on HIV-1 and antiretrovirals (as first or last author he published more than 150 on HIV/cancer, including 30 in journals with an impact factor exceeding 10), showed a reduction in mortality in AIDS-defining cancers and resolution of individual lesions.
Following this, Stebbing turned his attention to solid cancers and focused on drug development, non-coding RNAs, kinases, and biomarkers. By way of one example, a team he led described for the first time a new gene, LMTK3 (published in Nature Medicine), and went on to establish its place in some of the most central tumorigenic pathways. They are now undertaking a drug development program across malignancies. This is also designed to increase the health and wealth of the nation, establish national/international collaborations, and provide training/teaching for scientists, linking their work to the clinic.
In the last few years, work on this kinase alone has led to high impact factor papers as first or last author in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gastroenterology, Cell Reports, Science Signaling, PNAS, Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, and Genome Research, in differing models, to name a sample.
Stebbing has also been a Principal Investigator on a large number of clinical studies of novel/innovative compounds but also led the global development of a biosimilar (CT-P6) of the high-value drug Herceptin, and it is now available at a lower cost in developing countries, ensuring equitable access to this life-saving treatment. His work on this biosimilar has garnered global media attention, and he is committed to communicating the excitement of biomedical science to lay audiences.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Stebbing and his team have been working tirelessly to make a difference. Following his publications in The Lancet journal describing the use of AI to find a new drug in early 2020 (which is now cited thousands of times), he led many of the mechanistic, laboratory, and global studies that led to the FDA approval of baricitinib in November 2020. This drug has been shown to have the greatest mortality benefits of any drug in the pandemic for hospitalized patients with COVID-19, and Dr. Stebbing's book describing the story of its discovery, "Witness to Covid," is widely available.
Recent papers published by Dr. Stebbing bring down barriers between industry and academics, and he is known for his collaborative approach. His work on the CT-P6 biosimilar and baricitinib for COVID-19, which concerns equitable drug access, is a testament to his commitment to making a difference in the quality and quantity of life of patients. His ultimate goal is to help turn cancer into a curable disease.