Dr Katharine Aitken

Dr Katharine Aitken has both a private and an NHS practise at The Royal Marsden.  She is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist, specialising in radiotherapy treatment for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and stereotactic radiotherapy for metastatic disease. She graduated from University College London Medical School in 2003, winning the Hutley Atchinson prize for best clinical performance.  Her specialist oncology training was completed at The Royal Marsden and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals following which she undertook a research degree at The Institute of Cancer Research.  Her research centred on the use of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for the treatment of oligometastatic disease. Her research fellowship included time at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York to further her technical skills in GI radiotherapy. She was appointed as a Consultant Clinical Oncologist in the GI unit at The Royal Marsden in 2015 and as Honorary Faculty at the Institute of Cancer Research in 2025. Her research interests include the use of technical radiotherapy for primary and metastatic liver tumours, pancreatic cancer and MR guided adaptive radiotherapy.  She co-leads the NHS program for implementation of SABR for locally advanced pancreatic cancer in England. She is the Royal Marsden clinical lead for novel developmental work on Magnetic Resonance (MR) guided adaptive therapy for pancreatic cancer. She is an elected committee member of the UK SABR consortium.

Radiotherapy treatment for oesophageal, colorectal, anal, liver and pancreatic cancers Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for oligometastases, liver and pancreatic cancer including CyberKnife and MR guided radiotherapy