Pelican is dedicated to helping those with cancer live well for longer. We achieve this by supporting medical research and education to improve the treatment of bowel cancer and its associated secondary disease, particularly in the liver. Surgery remains the most effective cure for bowel cancer and we focus on diagnosis and surgery.
Pelican has become a ‘centre of excellence’ for sharing life-saving, life-enhancing knowledge and skills with cancer specialists.
Pelican Cancer Foundation – the difference we make
We fund research and work with multi-disciplinary cancer specialists to embed changes in practice, through workshops and conferences, to help more patients live well, for longer.
In our view, all surgeons should come and see the experts work at Pelican…. The bottom line is they’ll save lives as a result. Professor Alex Deutsch, Chair of the Yanir Foundation for the Advancement of Colorectal Surgery
We have trained thousands of cancer specialists at our educational courses and workshops
We deliver courses and workshops for cancer teams – surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, oncologists and nurses – sharing lifesaving and life-enhancing knowledge and skills across the UK and worldwide. Pelican has championed the use of multidisciplinary teams, which is abbreviated as MDT. Every cancer patient in Great Britain and Ireland is discussed by a team of relevant specialists, to make sure that all available treatment options are considered for each individual. Pelican is very proud to have played a huge role in championing MDT working with colorectal teams, as part of The English National MDT-TME Development Programme delivered between 2003-2006. Our most recent national programme was Pelican IMPACT, Improving Management for Patients with Advanced Colorectal Tumours, delivered between 2018 – 2020.
We have invested in vital clinical research in colorectal cancer
Established in 1993, the origins of the Foundation date back to the promotion of the ground breaking work of Professor Bill Heald and his colleagues at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital. The pioneering Total Mesorectal Excision (TME) procedure is now the benchmark treatment for rectal cancer across the world.
When bowel cancer spreads to the liver it is called liver metastasis (mets). Through research and education, we support advancing ways to predict which patients will develop liver metastases and development of treatment options. Mr Merv Rees, one of the pioneers in this field, has contributed to much of this work.
An area of increased interest and activity is for colorectal peritoneal metastases – secondary bowel cancer in the abdomen. Pelican supports research and clinical development in this area.
Another focus is pseudomyxoma peritonei, a very rare cancer usually originating in the appendix. Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital is one of only two specialist centres in the UK to treat this rare cancer, started by Mr Brendan Moran. It has subsequently become the largest volume centre in the world.
Pelican Cancer Foundation is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and a partner organisation of the National Institute of Health Research. We support medical research through providing fellowships and funding studies.
