Precision Cancer Medicine

The course will appeal to health professionals from a variety of backgrounds including clinical academics, diagnosticians, scientists and clinicians from academia and industry; bio-informaticians, statisticians and scientists and clinicians working in all stages of target discovery and drug development.

Precision medicine is an emerging approach which takes into account variability in the biology, environment, and lifestyle for each individual person to help guide disease diagnosis and treatment. In particular, genetic and genomic data allow us to go beyond conventional histopathological assessment, and classify cancer into distinct sub-entities, leading to novel molecularly-directed treatment approaches.

To realise the potential for precision medicine, the clinical development of diagnostics and therapeutics need to go hand in hand. Future leaders – whether in research or in the clinic – will need a broad understanding of the field and the ability to work with a range of stakeholders.

This course aims to deliver a broad overview of the scientific and clinical disciplines involved in precision medicine. You will cover the scientific basis for precision medicine, current technologies, drug discovery and development, and the global regulatory, payer and ethical challenges.

The course consists of eight modules:

1. Introduction to Human Genetics and Genomics
2. Omics Techniques and their Application to Genomic Medicine
3. Clinical Interpretation of Precision Diagnostics and Response Monitoring
4. Treatment, Pharmacogenomics, Clinical Trials and Experimental Cancer Therapeutics
5. Clinical Bio-informatics and Statistics
6. Ethics and Health Economics
7. Global Perspective on Molecular Pathology, Imaging and Early Detection
8. Onco-immunology and Genomics

The course will be taught using state-of-the art technology via the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE) platform. Core and guest lectures are pre-recorded, and will be available for you to watch in your own time, alongside recommended reading and other coursework activities. You will attend regular online discussion groups, with a small group of fellow students, which will be moderated by members of faculty. For these sessions you will be expected to prepare short essays and presentations for discussion. Each module also has a moderated Q&A session and online tests for you to check your understanding.

The taught modules conclude in March of year two with a compulsory week-long residential school in Oxford, to consolidate your learning. For the final six months you will work on a dissertation. The aim of the dissertation is to enable you to explore an area relevant to Precision Cancer Medicine in depth and to develop a carefully considered and critical piece of written work related to this chosen area of study.

To complete the MSc you need to submit and pass two pieces of written work, an examination and the dissertation.

Schedule of summative assessments that contribute to your final degree:

• June: Extended essay
• July: Practical assessment - written work

• March: Examination
• August: Disseration

Further details of the curriculum, schedule and assessments can be found on the course webpage on the department's website (see Further information and enquires for details).

You will be assigned a personal advisor from the course team, who will help you review your progress, and discuss any concerns you have; your course advisor and the course administration team will usually be your first port of call for any queries about your studies. You will also have an advisor at your Oxford college, whose support you can seek for issues you choose not to discuss with the course team. During the research project you will be allocated a project supervisor who will be responsible for your supervision and training.

The allocation of graduate supervision is the responsibility of the Department of Oncology and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. A supervisor may be found outside the Department of Oncology.

This is a new course, with the first cohort due to start in October 2020. It is expected that graduates will hold senior positions in a variety of roles, as clinical academics, diagnosticians, scientists and clinicians in academia, health services and the pharmaceutical industry.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. In certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information, please see our page on changes to courses.

Other courses you may wish to consider

If you're thinking about applying for this course, you may also wish to consider the courses listed below. These courses may have been suggested due to their similarity with this course, or because they are offered by the same department or faculty.

Courses suggested by the Department of Oncology

Global Health Science and Epidemiology MSc
Pharmacology MSc
Evidence-Based Health Care MSc
Experimental and Translational Therapeutics MSc
Women's and Reproductive Health DPhil
Population Health DPhil
Molecular Cell Biology in Health and Disease DPhil
Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics DPhil
Medical Sciences DPhil

All graduate courses offered by the department

Experimental and Translational Therapeutics MSc

Oncology DPhil

Oncology MSc by Research

Precision Cancer Medicine MSc

Radiation Biology MSc

Radiation Oncology combined MSc and DPhil

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Entry requirements