About us

Aims

The Trust’s aim is ‘advancing by investigation, research or otherwise in any way knowledge with regards to the causes of cancer and if possible of curing or alleviating cancer into the understanding of all aspects of cancer care and cure’. This wide remit has enabled the Trust to pursue various approaches in meeting its charitable objectives in the past.

Currently, the Trust has identified that effective investment in research institutions in South East Scotland is best delivered through PhD studentships and undergraduate vacation research scholarships. The Trust is open to effective collaboration with individuals or other charitable organisations to support research for all forms of cancer.

For example, this might involve matched funding from the Trust for a named research scholarship or studentship, applications for which would be assessed by the Scientific Advisory Committee with regular annual reporting of satisfactory research progress required.

History

The Trust was established in 1922 by George Fisher Melville, an advocate who lived at 12 Moray Place, Edinburgh. The Trust was managed initially by the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, the Deputy Keeper of the Signet and by a representative of the Merchant Company.

The original Act provided power to the Trustees to appoint an additional six trustees but in 1952 an amendment enabled the University of Edinburgh, The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh to each nominate one person to be appointed as trustees, each of whom is appointed for a 5 year period of renewable office.

The Melville Trust is a registered charity with OSCR, Charity Number SC010302.

Please click HERE for details of the charity’s operations and annual information submission history.

Governance and Administration

The trustees ensure that the objectives and best interests of the Trust are met and that assets are managed responsibly. None of the trustees use their position for personal gain or benefit.

All applications for scholarships and studentships are reviewed, scored and ranked by a Scientific Advisory Committee which comprises of representatives from the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians and the University of Edinburgh. Their opinions on the applications are passed to the trustees for their consideration and final decision.

Trustees

O James Garden

James Garden is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh. He was formerly Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery and Dean International at the University as well as a past Honorary Consultant Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplant Surgeon.

Tony Lenehan

Tony Lenehan KC is an experienced specialist counsel and is current Vice Dean of the Faculty of Advocates and President of the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association.

Lesley Dawson

Lesley Dawson MB is Consultant Medical Oncologist and Associate Director of Medical education at the Western General Hospital and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

Don Young

Don Young was formerly Lord Dean of the Guild of Edinburgh and The Old Master of the The Royal Company of Merchants, an organisation which represents more than 43 professions, that with its earlier Guild origins, has enriched the life of Edinburgh for more than 750 years.

Marie Fallon

Marie Fallon MD is the St Columba’s Hospice Chair of Palliative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Consultant in Palliative Care at the Western General Hospital. She leads the Edinburgh Palliative and Supportive Care Group at the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre within the MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine. She has published extensively in her field and is a member of the Advisory Board for Dimbleby Cancer Care. She is a Collaborating Centre Lead for the European palliative Cancer Research Centre with which organisation she is a Visiting Professor.

Jim Cormack KC

Jim Cormack KC is deputy Keeper of the Signet, and Partner and Head of Risk Advisory Services at Pinsent Masons which he joined in 2001. He was appointed Queen’s Council in Scotland in 2018 and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

Chair of the SAC – Professor Stephen J Wigmore

Professor Wigmore is the Regius Chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, Surgeon to the Queen in Scotland and is BJS Foundation Treasurer.

Representatives of the University of Edinburgh

Dr Luke Boulter

Dr Luke Boulter holds the academic title of Reader in the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on how Wnt signalling regulates liver biology in health and disease.

Dr Kevin Myant

Dr Kevin Myant is based in the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the Universioty of Edinburgh and is Principal Investigator and Reader in Cancer Biology, focusing on colorectal cancer research.

Representatives of the Royal College of Physicians

Dr Caroline Michie

Dr Michie is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and an NRS research fellow (2018-2021 cohort).

She specialises in the systemic treatment of patients with breast cancer, using chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and endocrine therapy.

Dr Lesley Dawson

Dr Lesley Dawson is Consultant Medical Oncologist and Associate Director of Medical education at the Western General Hospital and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

Representatives of the Royal College of Surgeons

Professor Farhat V N Din

Farhat Din is Scotland’s first-ever Colorectal Cancer Surgical Research Chair. Her clinical practice as Consultant Colorectal Surgeon is based at the Western General Hospital. She integrates her clinical practice in coloproctology with a translational research programme focusing on chemopreventive agents on mTOR signalling in colorectal cancer.

Professor Richard Skipworth

Professor Richard Skipworth is a Consultant General and Upper GI Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. He holds a personal chair with research interests in cancer cachexia and non-technical skills in surgery.

Professor Stephen J Wigmore

Professor Wigmore is the Regius Chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, Surgeon to the Queen in Scotland.