Professor Sudha Sundar

Professor Sudha Sundar

Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Professor of Gynaecological Cancer

Contact details

Telephone
+44 121 414 44021
Email
s.s.sundar@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@sundar_sudha
View my research portal
Address
Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am a gynaecological cancer surgeon and a clinical academic. My research programme focusses on improving cancer diagnostics, cancer surgery and addressing inequalities in cancer outcomes. My research has led to change of NICE guidance to recommend maximum cytoreduction surgery for ovarian cancer. I have served as the President of the British Gynaecological Cancer Society (2019-2022), the first women gynaecological oncologist to be elected to this post and I am the current Vice Chair of the Education committee of the International Gynaecological Cancer Society ( 2025 - current). In this role, I act as the ex-officio Chair of the scientific programme committee for the IGCS annual congress. 

I have recent completed a term as National Ovarian Cancer audit surgical lead (2023 – 2026) and I am spearheading the innovative use of routinely collected data to drive outcomes for women with ovarian cancer.   I am also on the International advisory board of Lancet Oncology (2025 - current).

Teaching

  • Small group and bed side teaching to Year 4 and Year 5 medical students
  • Personal academic tutor to Year 1 and 2 medical students

Postgraduate supervision

Trainees interested in pursuing MD or PhD higher research degrees in any of the research areas below are encouraged to email.

Research

My research has three interlinked strands:

1) Earlier diagnosis of Ovarian cancer. A key strand of my research involves development, validation and implementation of new diagnostic tests for Ovarian cancer. This programme of work ranges from Diagnostic test accuracy trials ( ROCkeTS, Lancet Oncology 2024, BMJ 2026), innovative data linkage to investigate new biomarkers at scale using the West Midlands Secure Data environment( SONATA study - ongoing), implementation research ( ADVOCATE study - ongoing), reconfiguration of diagnostic pathways for suspected cancer in primary care ( with Modality primary care partnership)  as well as new test development in collaboration with colleagues ( circulating tumour DNA ROCkeTS-GEN) at Cambridge, AI technologies in ultrasound (KU Leuven) and in metabolomics ( Ange Taylor, Paul Foster, University of Birmingham). 

2) Addressing inequalities in cancer diagnosis. 40% of women are diagnosed after emergency admissions, with more older women, frail and from deprived backgrounds being diagnosed in this way . Unfortunately outcomes after emergency admission are substantially poorer (Lancet 2026). Working with colleagues from Leeds University, Surrey University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine we design and evaluate interventions to increase rates of treatment in this group of women and gain insights into reducing emergency admissions from cancer. 

3) Rare cancer - Our work on mucinous ovarian cancer with international collaborators in the Netherlands ( Netherlands cancer institute), University of Toronto, Peter Mac cancer centre, Australia has helped us answer key clinical questions on risk prediction, surgery and identified novel prognostic factors. We showed for the first time that South Asian ethnicity is a novel prognostic factor in Mucinous Ovarian cancer ( IJGC 2024) and are working to investigate the genomic differences in this cohort. In parallel, we are characterising the steroidomic profile in Mucinous Ovarian cancer with the aim of developing novel strategies for diagnosis and follow-up in this rare, highly underserved group of younger women. Finally, we co-lead on an international consensus group ( MOVING) working to improve outcomes for this group of women. 

I am also the Principal Investigator for the STEMOVA (STEroid Metabolome in mucinous OVArian cancer) research team. 

Funders of research include NIHR, NHS Cancer Programme, Wellbeing of Women, Eve appeal, Your city and Metropolitan hospitals charity and and Birmingham Womens and Childrens Hospital charity.

Other activities

  • India Lead for College of Medicine and Health, 2017 – current
  • Academic lead for Cancer pillar, Birmingham Health Partners, 2018-current
  • President, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, 2019 - 2022
  • Lead, Ethnic diversity in Cancer Genomics substream, Gender Inequality theme, Institute of Global Innovation 

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Do, V, Cummins, C, Crisp, H, Kannangara, S, Smotra, G, Tarbuck, B, Duke, O, Salar, A, Jhita, N, Sai, V, Rati, N & Sundar, S 2026, 'A mixed-methods evaluation of the implementation of IOTA-ADNEX ultrasound triage in NHS secondary care ovarian diagnostic one-stop clinics', BMJ Open Qual. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2025-003909

Toopchiani, S, Codling, S, Pondeca, Y, Kaur, S, Horeau, K, Brewer, H, Cross, A, Delaney, B, Faisal, AA, Peters, C, Goulding, J, Hirst, Y, Sundar, S & Flanagan, JM 2026, 'Cancer loyalty card study-2 (CLOCS-2): protocol for an observational case-control study focusing on the patient interval in cancer diagnosis', BMJ Open, vol. 16, no. 5, e117937. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-117937

the ROCkeTS collaborators, Sundar, S, Agarwal, R, Scandrett, K, Davenport, C, Van Calster, B, Johnson, S, Sengupta, P, Selvi-Vikram, R, Kwong, FL, Mallett, S, Rick, C, Kehoe, S, Timmerman, D, Bourne, T, Stobart, H, Neal, RD, Menon, U, Gentry-Maharaj, A, Sturdy, L, Ottridge, R & Deeks, JJ 2026, 'Diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer in premenopausal women with non-specific symptoms (ROCkeTS): prospective, multicentre, cohort study', BMJ, vol. 392, e083912. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-083912

Sundar, S, Agarwal, R, Scandrett, K, Davenport, C, Sturdy, L, Ottridge, R, Deeks, J & ROCkeTS collaborators 2026, 'Identifying the best diagnostic test for ovarian cancer – synopsis of Refining Ovarian Cancer Test accuracy Scores (ROCkeTS) research', Health Technology Assessment, vol. 30, no. 24. https://doi.org/10.3310/BDHS6485

Newhouse, R, McWilliams, L, Baker‐Rand, H, Cullimore, V, Davidson, E, Sundar, S & Morrison, J 2026, 'Investigating the Acceptability of Cervical Screening and Self‐Sampling in Postnatal Women at the 6‐Week Postnatal Check‐Up: A Qualitative Study', Health Expectations, vol. 29, no. 1, e70582. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.70582

Madariaga, A, Veneziani, A, Bookman, M, Counsell, N, Miller, A, Andrews, J, Banerjee, S, Chavez-Blanco, A, Cloven, N, Gaba, F, Kohn, E, Leary, A, Lecuru, F, Lee, YC, Lee, JY, Liu, Y, Lindemann, K, Malik, S, Marth, C, Mileshkin, L, Mukhopadhyay, A, Nadeem, A, Nout, R, Pérez-Fidalgo, JA, Plante, M, Sundar, S, Tone, A, Oza, AM, Glasspool, R & MacKay, H 2026, 'Pragmatic gynecologic cancer clinical trials: statements and roadmap from the GCIG Chicago Brainstorming Meeting', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2026.104827

Abstract

Olaoye, T, Algera, MD, Boyle, W, Edmondson, R, Kumar, S, Del Castillo, AL, Lof, FC, Laios, A, Owens, G, Phadnis, S, Majd, HS, Williams, A, Ayushi, , Sundar, S & Lok, CAR 2026, '#1428 Impact of cytoreductive surgery outcomes in primary mucinous ovarian cancer – retrospective multicentre international study', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement 1, 103131, pp. 66-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2025.103131

Olaoye, T, Ayushi, Algera, MD, Boyle, W, Edmondson, R, Kumar, S, Del Castillo, AL, Lof, FC, Laios, A, Owens, G, Phadnis, S, Majd, HS, Williams, A, Lok, CAR & Sundar, S 2026, '#1493 What defines infiltrative invasion as a poor prognostic factor in primary mucinous ovarian cancer? – A multicentre retrospective cohort', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement 1, 102910, pp. 5-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2025.102910

Sundar, S, Salar, A, Cummins, C, Do, V, Mohammed, P, Vernazza, J, Ofinran, O, Ratnavelu, N, Agarwal, R, Mead, P, Takwoingi, Y, Murphie, J, Jhita, N, Rati, N & Sai, V 2026, '#348 Transforming ovarian cancer diagnostic pathways (SONATA): ROMA versus CA125 in community setting for diagnosis of ovarian and uterine cancer, real-world prospective diagnostic test accuracy study: preliminary analysis of secondary outcome', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement 1, 102901, pp. 1-1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2025.102901

Clamp, A, Mcneish, I, Radice, D, Lord, R, Michael, A, Cook, A, Agarwal, R, Walther, A, Blagden, S, O'Donnell, D, Brenton, JD, Sundar, S, Sessa, C, Murphy, L, Schiavone, F, Gentry-Maharaj, A, Kaplan, R, Parmar, MK & Ledermann, JA 2026, '#405 ICON8B: GCIG phase III randomised trial comparing first-line weekly dose-dense chemotherapy + bevacizumab to three-weekly chemotherapy + bevacizumab in high-risk stage III-IV epithelial ovarian cancer: final overall survival (OS) analysis', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement 1, 102893, pp. 4-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2025.102893

Zachou, G, Wu, R, Hutchings, A, Van Der Meulen, J, Gurol-Urganci, I, Michael, A & Sundar, S 2026, '#720 Ovarian cancer diagnosis within 28 days after an emergency admission to hospital: a national population-based study of patient risk factors and cancer characteristics using routinely collected data in england', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement 1, 103816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2025.103816

Zachou, G, Wu, R, Hutchings, A, Van Der Meulen, J, Gurol-Urganci, I, Michael, A & Sundar, S 2026, '#723 Mind the gap: emergency admissions and survival inequities in ovarian cancer: a national population-based study using routinely collected data in england', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, vol. 36, no. 2, Supplement 1, 102905, pp. 3-3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2025.102905

Clamp, AR, McNeish, I, Radice, D, Lord, R, Michael, A, Cook, A, Agarwal, R, Walther, A, Blagden, SP, O'Donnell, D, Brenton, JD, Sundar, S, Sessa, C, Murphy, LR, Schiavone, F, Gentry-Maharaj, A, Kaplan, RS, Parmar, MK & Ledermann, JA 2025, '1064O ICON8B: GCIG phase III randomised trial comparing first-line weekly dose-dense chemotherapy + bevacizumab to three-weekly chemotherapy + bevacizumab in high-risk stage III-IV epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC): Final overall survival (OS) analysis', Annals of Oncology, vol. 36, no. Supplement 2, pp. S712-S713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2025.08.1704

Comment/debate

Cullimore, V, Newhouse, R, Baker-Rand, H, Chu, K, Sundar, S, Crosbie, EJ, McWilliams, L & Morrison, J 2026, 'Response to ‘Six-week postnatal cervical screening: Moving from acceptability toward mechanistic evidence and policy change’', Journal of Medical Screening, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 60-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/09691413251393629

Review article

Zachou, G, Rongali, S, Wu, R, van der Meulen, J, Gurol-Urganci, I, Hutchings, A, Michael, A & Sundar, S 2026, 'Determinants and outcomes of ovarian cancer diagnosis following an emergency presentation: a systematic review', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgc.2026.104487

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

  • Ovarian Cancer
  • Patient reported outcomes