As Emeritus Professor of Clinical Paediatric Oncology, Pam’s clinical interests are in childhood cancers and lymphomas. Her laboratory interests are in the development of novel treatment approaches for haematological malignancies.
In 1982 Professor Kearns was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Physiology from the University of Aberdeen where she subsequently studied Medicine qualifying in 1988. She was awarded a PhD in leukaemia biology from the Newcastle University in 2000, where she also completed her postgraduate training in paediatric oncology. She was appointed Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Oncology at the University of Bristol in 2002 and moved to Birmingham in 2007, where she further developed her research in childhood acute leukaemias and lymphomas, focussing on pre-clinical models and early phase drug development trials for evaluation of novel therapies. She was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2009.
Between 2012 to 2023, Professor Kearns was the Director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, University of Birmingham where she led the research strategy for UK's largest cancer trials unit. From 2021-2024, she was Director of the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.
Pam’s principal research interest is in clinical trials research in childhood cancer. Through her roles within the University of Birmingham, Cancer Research UK, ITCC, ACCELRATE and SIOP-Europe, she has provided national and international support and guidance on research governance, regulatory affairs and research ethics in relation to clinical trials. Since 2010, she served on the Executive Board of the European consortium for Innovative Therapeutics for Children with Cancer (ITCC); a consortium developing new treatments for childhood cancers and leukaemias through International partnerships and was elected President January 2024.