William Watson - Prostate Cancer

Name: Prof. William Watson

Job Title/Professional Qualifications: Professor of Cancer Biology/PhD, UCD School of Medicine

Role within PVCR (if applicable): Information governance & ethics subcommittee

Research keywords: Prostate cancer, biomarkers, bioresource

Current research projects: Integrative models to predict indolent and aggressive prostate cancer; Clinical App to inform the need for a biopsy, developing biomarker signatures to predict biochemical recurrence – Opti-Predict

Contact details:
• Email: (opens in a new window)william.watson@ucd.ie
• Twitter: @OptiProstate
• ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8831-3244
• Web profile: (opens in a new window)https://people.ucd.ie/william.watson

Highlight Publication: A risk calculator to inform the need for a prostate biopsy: a rapid access clinic cohort. Amirhossein Jalali, Robert W. Foley, Robert M. Maweni, Keefe Murphy, Dara J. Lundon, Thomas Lynch, Richard Power, Frank O’Brien, Kieran J. O’Malley, David J. Galvin, Garrett C. Durkan, T. Brendan Murphy and R. William Watson. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2020) 20:148 (opens in a new window)doi.org/10.1186/s12911-020-01174-2

What is the significance of this publication? This study brought together scientists and clinicians across Ireland to build an Irish risk calculator to help inform men if they need to have a biopsy in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Its use will reduce the number of men requiring a biopsy and their exposure to its side effects. The interactive tool developed is beneficial to translate the risk calculator into practice and allows for clarity in the clinical decision making process.