Lesley Fallowfield trained at Guy's Hospital London as a nurse before completing a degree in Experimental Psychology. Research for her DPhil in Psychophysics was done at the Universities of Sussex and Cambridge. Her primary research interests include:
Assessment of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs)in clinical trials of cancer therapy.
Development and assessment of supportive interventions for symptoms and side-effects of cancer and its treatment.
Communication- development and evaluation of innovative training course and materials to assist health care professionals' communicating with patients, their families and with clinical colleages.
Professor Fallowfield has contributed numerous articles to medical journals and has written three textbooks on QoL and communication in health care.
A randomised controlled trial of axillary treatment in women with early stage breast cancer who have metastases in one or two sentinel nodes. The aim of this trial is to determine whether axillary clearance or radiotherapy can be safely avoided in women receiving chemotherapy and/or hormone therapy following surgery for early stage breast cancer. The trial also explores how aspects of QoL and psychological well-being are affected by fear of cancer recurrence and long term side effects of axillary treatment.
In order to develop an educational programme to help communication professionals working with d/Deaf and deaf-blind people (e.g. sign language interpreters) better understand what they may be required to interpret in cancer consultations, we are conducting a survey to find out what communication professionals feel are the biggest challenges when working in cancer consultations.
There is interest worldwide about using a drug called a PARP inhibitor (PARPi) in people with BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene changes. These drugs already work in patients with cancer who have gene changes. We hope that PARP inhibitors given to those with gene changes who do not have cancer will stop a cancer developing. Before doctors can design a chemoprevention trial using this drug, we need to find out the preferences and acceptability of such a study. Initial insights gained from members of the public - in this instance women - will help with trial design and the sort of information required.
We have adapted the one-day face to face HEARSAY workshop to help Healthcare Professionals improve their communication with patients who have metastatic breast cancer into an e-Learning course. We shall compare the e-Learning results (n=60 HCPs) with those from the face to face courses for equivalence, with the aim of providing it as an educational resource to the Royal Colleges.
Harder H, Jenkins V, & Fallowfield L. (2026). Perceptions and lived experiences with abemaciclib and endocrine therapy for early breast cancer: a rapid communication. Future Oncology, 1-7. Find it online here
22/05/2026
Fallowfield L, Solis-Trapala I, Habibi R, Jenkins V (2026) Evaluation of a novel communication workshop for healthcare professionals working with metastatic breast cancer patients The Breast, 104796, ISSN 0960-9776 Find it online here
06/05/2026
Schumarcher-Wulf E, Fallowfield L, Chidebe C W, Durston V, Eniu A, Kaur R, Haidinger R, Pillay N, Egbase D, Han Y, Cardoso F (2026), Biomarker recall and understanding among people living with metastatic breast cancer - results from an international patient survey, The Breast, Volume 86, April 2026, 104737 Find it online here
01/04/2026
Fallowfield L, Boyle F, Haidinger R, Magsanoc-Alikpala K, Travado L, Aapro M, Wolkensdorfer Z, Lewis A, Attfield G, Cardoso F. (2025)
Improving communication between healthcare professionals and patients living with advanced breast cancer: a global expert review and call-to-action for 2025-2035 (Goal 5),
The Breast, 104610 Find it online here
06/11/2025
Bruce C, Sadiq S, Calvert C, Dodwell D, Fairbrother P, Fallowfield L, Jenkins V ...Montgomery A. (2025) A randomised SWAT assessing the impact of an enhanced patient information leaflet on recruitment in a trial of axillary treatment for early-stage breast cancer [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. F1000Research 2025, 14:1145 Find it online here
21/10/2025
Fallowfield L, Kiely BE, Travado L, Ventura R, Dullehan J, Cardoso F. (2025) Best practices for communication of prognosis and end-of-life discussions with patients with advanced breast cancer: A report from the advanced breast cancer global alliance. The Breast. 2025 Oct 11:104595. Find it online here
11/10/2025
Hunter R, Jenkins V, Fallowfield L, Jones J & Shilling V. (2025). Patient and caregiver understanding of multiple myeloma: A scoping review. European Journal of Oncology Nursing,
Volume 79, 102992, ISSN 1462-3889 Find it online here
04/10/2025
Starkings, R., Fallowfield, L., Russ, S. & Jenkins, V. (2025). Qualitative Findings From a Survey Measuring Informational Needs and Quality of Life of Women Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 34: e70177. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.70177 Find it online here
10/05/2025
Starkings R, Harder H, Fallowfield L, Shilling V. (2025) Exploring the real-world experience of abemaciclib treatment for HR +, HER2- metastatic breast cancer - a qualitative analysis of the IMPACTOR study. Supporive Care in Cancer; 33 (421). Find it online here
26/04/2025
Harder H, Starkings R, Fallowfield L, May S, & Shilling V. (2025) Incidence and management of diarrhoea associated with abemaciclib and endocrine therapy for hormone-receptor positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer: the UK patients' experiences. Support Care Cancer 33, 422. Find it online here
26/04/2025