Dr Heidi Sowter
After obtaining a BSc. In Marine Biology at Swansea University, I worked as a technician for a biotechnology company who specialised in making monoclonal antibodies. During this time I became interested in cancer research, and found a job at Cambridge University working as a research assistant. While working here I was lucky enough to be able to complete a part time PhD entitled ‘Growth Factors in Ovarian Cancer’, which led me to a postdoctoral researcher position at Oxford University. Here, I worked at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, and published several articles in the area of hypoxic pathways and cell death in cancer. I then moved to another postdoctoral position at the Institute of Cancer Research in London (specifically Breakthrough Breast Cancer), where I developed a mouse model of BRCA-related ovarian cancer. After this, I obtained a lectureship at the University of Derby, where I worked as a senior lecturer in oncology for 13 years. I then worked at Nottingham Trent University as a Principal Lecturer, before making the move back to London to join Westminster University as a senior lecturer in Health and Wellbeing.
My area of research is focussed on oncology, and before taking a lectureship at Derby I published several highly cited articles in the areas of angiogenesis and hypoxic signalling pathways. Since becoming an academic I have continued some molecular and cell biology research by forging collaborations with groups from Nottingham University and the University of Southern California, and my most recent PhD student investigated dysregulation of calcium channels in ovarian cancer. Over the last 10 years I have developed a strong interest in translational medicine, and have been the chief investigator of two clinical trials: ‘Yoga for Gynaecological Cancer patients’ and ‘Inspiratory muscle training for cancer patients suffering from dyspnoea.’