The Andrew Sims Memorial Award
The Andrew Sims Memorial Award and Lecture was established by EBCSS in memory of our friend and colleague Dr Andrew Sims, a highly respected cancer bioinformatician and translational breast cancer researcher.
Andrew was at the forefront of the emerging field of cancer bioinformatics and gene-expression profiling. His early work contributed to the development and application of microarray-based approaches in breast cancer, helping researchers to understand the molecular diversity of the disease and how gene-expression data could be used to define tumour biology, improve prognostic classification and ultimately inform treatment.
A central theme throughout Andrew’s career was the challenge of translating increasingly complex genomic data into meaningful biological and clinical insight. His research explored the molecular subtypes and origins of breast cancer, developed approaches for integrating large gene-expression datasets, and addressed many of the methodological challenges that accompanied the rapidly developing field of high-throughput genomics.
At the University of Edinburgh, Andrew continued to apply bioinformatics to important clinical questions in breast cancer. His work included studies of changes in tumour gene expression during treatment, the biology of invasive lobular carcinoma, prediction of response to endocrine therapy, and the molecular mechanisms underlying treatment sensitivity, resistance and tumour dormancy.
Andrew was also a valued colleague, collaborator and mentor, bringing together computational science, laboratory research and clinical breast cancer research. His work exemplified the multidisciplinary translational research that lies at the heart of EBCSS.
The Award
The Andrew Sims Memorial Award recognises an outstanding researcher who has made a significant contribution to translational breast cancer research, particularly work that has helped bridge the gap between fundamental scientific discovery and improvements in our understanding or treatment of breast cancer.
The recipient is invited to deliver the Andrew Sims Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Breast Cancer Special Symposium and is presented with the award in recognition of their contribution to the field.
Previous Recipients
The inaugural Andrew Sims Memorial Award was presented to Professor Charles M. Perou at EBCSS 2025, recognising his pioneering contribution to the molecular classification and understanding of breast cancer.
2027 Recipient – Professor Anita Grigoriadis
The 2027 Andrew Sims Memorial Award is presented to Professor Anita Grigoriadis, Professor of Molecular and Digital Pathology at King’s College London, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to cancer bioinformatics and translational breast cancer research.
Professor Grigoriadis has built a career at the interface of cancer biology, computational science and clinical research. Originally trained in molecular biology and cancer research, she subsequently retrained in bioinformatics at a time when the discipline was emerging as a transformative force in cancer research. Her career has since followed—and helped drive—the remarkable evolution of the field, from the analysis of genomic and transcriptomic data to digital pathology, spatial biology and artificial intelligence.
At King’s College London, she leads the Cancer Bioinformatics group, developing computational approaches to understand the complex molecular and morphological features of breast cancer. Her research has had a particular focus on triple-negative breast cancer, exploring genomic instability, tumour–immune interactions and the biological features that influence treatment response and disease progression.
A defining feature of her work has been the integration of multiple forms of patient-derived data. Her group combines genomics and transcriptomics with digitised pathology, spatial profiling and machine-learning approaches to identify patterns associated with prognosis and treatment response. Her work examining both primary breast tumours and the surrounding immune environment—including changes within draining lymph nodes—has provided new insights into the relationship between tumour biology, host response and the risk of metastatic disease.
More recently, Professor Grigoriadis has been at the forefront of applying artificial intelligence and computational pathology to breast cancer research and early cancer detection, developing large-scale tissue and imaging resources from which new predictive models can be built. Throughout her career, she has maintained a strong emphasis on translating increasingly complex biological data into information capable of improving how cancer is detected, classified and treated.
Her work embodies the multidisciplinary spirit of the Andrew Sims Memorial Award: bringing together biology, computation and clinical research to extract meaningful insight from complex cancer data and, ultimately, improve outcomes for patients with breast cancer.
Professor Grigoriadis will receive the Andrew Sims Memorial Award at EBCSS 2027 and deliver the 2027 Andrew Sims Memorial Lecture.