Orielensis Dr Alexander H. (Sandy) Todd (1958, BA & DPhil in Chemistry) has made a gift to the College that will extend the Against Breast Cancer/Oriel College Fellowship Scheme for an additional year for one Fellow.
Launched in 2018, the Against Breast Cancer Fellowships provide research support for some of the country’s leading scientists and clinicians performing breast cancer research at the University of Oxford. The Fellowships are each awarded on a 3-year basis and were originally planned to continue until 2027, but due to Dr Todd’s gift, one Fellowship will now be extended to 2028. The partnership with Against Breast Cancer allows Oriel to support two Junior Research Fellows. The current post-holders are Dr Andrew Blackford, a Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellow, and Dr Simon Lord, a Senior Clinical Researcher in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics.
Against Breast Cancer wish to express their sincere gratitude to Mr. Todd for his most generous gift and we are delighted to see this further strengthening of our close relationship with Oriel College. It is a great endorsement of our policy to support and develop young scientists who perform innovative research into increasing survival rates after breast cancer diagnosis.
Richard Bahu, Chair of Trustees
Dr Todd spent his career working with the ICI Pharmaceuticals Division (now part of AstraZeneca), first as a research chemist and then as a project manager for products under development from research to marketing, mainly in the cancer field. The breast cancer drug tamoxifen and prostate cancer drug Zoladex were two of Dr Todd’s projects. He then moved into product licensing, specialising in seeking rights from Japanese companies to develop and market their products in the West.
Dr Todd is a former member of the Board of Management of Salters’ Institute, which as part of its work organises annual chemistry festivals for young chemists at Universities across the country, including Oxford. His benefaction to Oriel College and Against Breast Cancer strongly aligns with his lifelong interest in science and cancer research in particular.
Image: John Cairns