Professor Peter Schmid

Professor Peter Schmid is an internationally renowned breast cancer oncologist. He is the clinical director of the Breast Cancer Centre at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, and Chair in Cancer Medicine at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University London. His private practice is based at LOC Harley Street, LOC at Chelsea, the Platinum Medical Centre, the Wellington Hospital, the Harley Street Clinic and at the Princess Grace Hospital.

Professor Schmid's work is devoted to incorporating novel therapies based on an understanding of the biology of cancer with excellent quality of care into the treatment of women with breast cancer. He has an interest in breast cancer from diagnosis throughout treatment to optimal recovery, and also has a particular interest in triple-negative breast cancer, young women with breast cancer, pregnancy-associated breast cancer and fertility related issues. Professor Schmid is committed to patient-centred, holistic care, tailoring treatments for individual patients using biology, personal preference and constant review of outcomes of care. He works in the context of a multidisciplinary team with breast care nurse support for patients. Professor Schmid has a strong interest in patient-doctor communication and ran a training programme for oncologists and oncology nurses for many years.

Professor Schmid's research is dedicated to improving the care of women with breast cancer by developing more effective and less toxic treatments. He runs an international clinical and translational research programme. His group is investigating a variety of novel agents that target specific pathways within cancer cells and the surrounding tissue. He is the lead investigator of several international, pivotal breast cancer studies on novel targeted therapeutics to improve the treatment of both early and late stage breast cancer. Most trials incorporate translational research endpoints to improve our understanding of molecular factors that may elucidate mechanisms of action and predictors of treatment effect; this includes a programme on the impact of the microbiome on patient outcomes. Professor Schmid is renowned internationally for his work in cancer immunotherapy. He was the lead investigator of the Impassion130 trial that evaluated atezolizumab for advanced triple-negative breast cancer and lead to the approval of the first immunotherapy strategy for patients with breast cancer, establishing a new standard of care for this disease. He was also the lead investigator of the KEYNOTE-522 trial which established the addition of the immune-checkpoint inhibitor Pembrolizumab to preoperative chemotherapy as a new standard for patients with stage II or III triple-negative breast cancer based on a nearly 40% reduction in recurrences of this aggressive subtype of breast cancer. His current research interests include cancer immune therapy combinations across all stages and subtypes of breast cancer, novel targeted agents and antibody-drug conjugates - alone or in combination - to overcome resistance, and innovative biomarker-driven trial concepts. Professor Schmid's work has been published in many journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Nature Communications and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In addition to his clinical and research work, Professor Schmid is committed to education, regularly lecturing locally, nationally and internationally on subjects relating to the treatment of and supportive care for breast cancer. Professor Schmid is medical director of Perci Health, a virtual care clinic, to provide access to high-quality cancer experts across multi-disciplinary fields, focused holistically on recovery from a physical, mental, social and emotional point of view.

Prof Schmid is a member of several national and international cancer organisations and research groups. He has been involved in international consensus meetings on the management of breast cancer and is co-author of international breast cancer guidelines. Professor Peter Schmid is Chair of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) breast cancer faculty.

Areas of interest

• Breast cancer from early breast cancer to advanced (secondary) disease, including endocrine treatment, immunotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted treatment.
• Breast cancer in young adults
• Triple-negative breast cancer
• Hormone-receptor positive and HER2-positive breast cancer
• Hormone-resistance
• Interest in holistic management of side-effects of treatment, including aspects of fertility, pregnancy, menopausal symptoms and bone health.
• Works in context of multidisciplinary team with breast care nurse support for patients.
• Personalised medicines and appropriate genetic testing.
• Immunotherapy
• Novel targeted agents and antibody-drug conjugates