Tall, confident, energetic and fiercely independent, he was the master of the media soundbite and had a rare talent for being about to describe complex advances in research in simple terms.ĭuring McVie’s time as Director General of CRC (1996 to 2002) more than 60 new drugs proceeded from laboratory to clinical trial and, disgusted to find that only around three per cent of British cancer patients were involved in clinical research (“a disgrace”), he was a key architect of the Cancer Trials Networks which link cancer centres across the country to offer patients who fail to respond to conventional treatments the chance to take part in early clinical trials of new ones. In his office hung a painting of sailing ships, given to him by a patient who explained that it reminded her of him because, as he came striding through the ward, his white coat always flew out behind like ships’ sails.

Over 40 years McVie published some 350 original articles including five books and played a major role in pressing for targeted chemotherapy tailored to the needs of individual patients, in encouraging the use of chemotherapy for lung cancer and emphasising the importance of adjusting treatment according to a patient’s ethnicity.

Professor Gordon McVie, who has died aged 75, was a towering figure in cancer research and, as Scientific Director and Director General of the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC, now Cancer Research UK), he became the public face of the country’s fight against the disease and a fierce critic of government and NHS bureaucracy.

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