Dr. Miguel Reis Ferreira

Biography

Miguel Reis Ferreira is a specialist in clinical oncology who completed his medical degree and specialist training in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2011, he enrolled in the prestigious Doctoral Programme for Physicians, sponsored by the Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal. He undertook research at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden in London, UK, focusing on the role of intestinal microbiota in the development of gastrointestinal side effects from radiotherapy. This work culminated in a large-scale clinical study exploring the associations between the microbiome and radiation enteropathy, revealing that patients with higher abundances of bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids experienced significantly reduced side effects and returned to normal after radiotherapy. Miguel was awarded a post-doctoral award from the ICR/RMH Biomedical Research Centre to utilize metabolomics for understanding the impact of pelvic radiotherapy on metabolic profiles, further validating his findings on bacterial community profiling. He has been appointed as a substantive clinical oncologist at Guys and St Thomas' since October 2018 and is currently an adjunct senior clinical lecturer at King’s College London. His research primarily interests the interactions between microbiota and cancer therapies, and he aims to develop targeted, effective treatments. Miguel is advancing his research by initiating a PhD focused on predicting radiation-induced gastrointestinal side effects from pelvic radiotherapy and collaborating with industry to develop clinical trials aimed at mitigating these occurrences. He is particularly engaged in understanding head and neck cancers and the associated poor treatment outcomes, striving for urgent improvements in this area.

Research Interests