RCR appoints Cambridge professor Raj Jena as Clinical Oncology Lead AI Advisor
The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Raj Jena as its Clinical Oncology Lead AI Advisor, following a competitive process. He will serve a two-year term until summer 2028.
The Clinical Oncology AI Lead Advisor will help to shape the College’s thinking in the field of AI, build relationships across the sector and find opportunities to drive and transform AI in clinical oncology.
About Professor Raj Jena
Prof Jena is an academic radiation oncologist in the neuro-oncology team at Cambridge University Hospitals, and Professor of AI in Radiation Oncology at the University of Cambridge. His research interests focus on clinical image processing, data science and machine learning applications.
He leads a multi-professional computational radiotherapy group across the university’s departments of oncology, physics, and engineering, and has a range of national and international research projects developing AI algorithms in radiation therapy.
His work includes developing new AI tools to learn from text and image data to improve the accuracy of radiotherapy and to monitor how cancers and health tissues respond to treatment.
As well as building AI tools, Prof Jena has experience in taking them through to clinical deployment. He led OSAIRIS, an NHSX funded AI project that developed the first cloud-based open source medical imaging device within an NHS hospital. He has also published papers on the regulatory frameworks, commissioning methodologies, and robust user evaluations that are needed to keep real-world AI deployment safe. He is passionate about patient involvement in research, and has worked with national and international patient advocacy groups for the co-design of AI research projects.
Confirming the appointment, Dr Nicky Thorp, Vice-President for Clinical Oncology at the RCR, said:
“I'm delighted to welcome Professor Raj Jena as the RCR CO AI Lead Advisor. His considerable expertise in data driven innovation in clinical oncology will help shape safe, effective adoption of AI across UK cancer care. We are most fortunate to have the benefit of his leadership guiding this rapidly evolving critical agenda. This work will ensure patients benefit from technology that enhances, rather than replaces, the clinical excellence at the heart of our profession.”
On being appointed to the role, Professor Raj Jena said:
“I am honoured to accept this role. AI has become a part of our daily lives, and the pace of change of AI technologies outstrips anything else that we see in clinical practice. The College has taken a leading role in education, evaluation, safety and equity of AI deployment in radiology and oncology. I hope to be able to bring my own knowledge, experience, and collaboration network to the table, advising the College on emerging opportunities and helping mitigate risk in a fast-moving field.”
Notes to editors
- Media contact: [email protected] 02038054065
- The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) is the leading professional membership body for clinical radiologists and clinical oncologists
- Clinical radiologists are specialist doctors who use imaging to diagnose, monitor and treat diseases and injuries
- Clinical oncologists are specialist doctors who manage cancer and prescribe drug-based treatments and radiotherapy