Professor Justin Roe

Summary

Justin is a consultant clinical-academic and service lead, specialising in dysphagia in benign and malignant head and neck disorders. He works at 2 internationally renowned centres of excellence. He has been employed at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (RMH) since 2008 and is currently a Consultant and the Professional Lead in the Department of Speech, Voice and Swallowing. He is also Associate Lead for Therapies with responsibility for rehabilitation provision for those receiving care from the head and neck, lung and neuro-oncology multidisciplinary teams. He is currently the research lead for the therapies department and senior member of the Applied Health Research Group. He was appointed as the Clinical Service Lead at the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction/ Complex Laryngology Service at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) in 2016. He has held an honorary academic appointment in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London since 2016 and was promoted to Professor of Practice (Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation) in 2023.

Justin completed his first degree, majoring in psychology, in 1993. He trained to diploma level in therapeutic hypnosis and psychotherapy in 1996. He qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist with a post-graduate diploma in Language and Communication Science from City University, London in 1999. In 2005, he completed a research masters with distinction at the Faculty of Medicine, Newcastle University. He was awarded his PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research in 2013 in which he evaluated swallowing outcomes following treatment with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for head and neck cancer.

As a specialist advisor to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) in head and neck oncology and palliative care, Justin represents the organisation at a national level. He has also contributed to a number of key policy and position papers, including RCSLT’s response to the Assisted Dying Bill. He chaired their Head and Neck Oncology Clinical Excellence Network from 2014-2018 leading on the provision of continuing professional development opportunities. As well as encouraging members to present their clinical and research work, during his tenure speakers included patient experts and international leaders in the field of head and neck cancer rehabilitation. He sat on the COVID-19 Advisory Group for RCSLT and contributed to a number of key position papers providing clinical practice guidance during the pandemic. 

He has served on scientific committees including the United Kingdom Swallowing Research Group (UKSRG), the swallowing committee for the American Speech-Language-Hearing-Association’s (ASHA)  convention and the academic committee for the British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology (BACO). He currently serves on the scientific committee of the International Centre for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer (IREC) based at The Royal Marsden and leads on the survivorship theme and patient and public involvement and engagement (PPI/E). Justin has represented the profession and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) on a number of national work streams, including the board of the Clinical Oversight Group for the RM Partners West London Cancer Alliance, Health Education England and NHS England and most recently, the Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development (ACCEND) programme. In 2019, he was elected as AHP Council Member for the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists. In 2020, he was elected to the Council of the British Laryngological Association. He is President of the United Kingdom Swallowing Research Group (UKSRG). 

Justin has completed clinical observerships at a number of international centres of excellence. These include the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL) in Amsterdam, the Center for Voice and Swallowing Research at Boston Medical Centre, Boston University School of Medicine, the Head and Neck Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and the Thyroid Head and Neck Cancer (THANC) Foundation Research Center, Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York.  

Justin’s academic work is focused on people diagnosed with head and neck/ lung cancers and airway stenosis.  He is involved in several NIHR and Cancer Research UK-funded research studies. He collaborates with colleagues internationally including experts from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States (see research).

Justin is committed to quality improvement and patient-centred care. He conducted a qualitative study evaluating the rehabilitation needs of people diagnosed with advanced lung cancer funded by the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.  He has led on a number of quality improvement initiatives using experience-based co-design (EBCD) and is a Point of Care Foundation Associate. Justin has been awarded Certificates of Excellence for Patient Care based on patient feedback submitted to IWantGreatCare.org, the online healthcare review site. Until December 2022, he held an Imperial Health Charity/ Imperial NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Post Doctoral Fellowship. As part of this award, he continued his work in partnership with healthcare professionals and patients to produce a Patient Concerns Inventory for people diagnosed with Airway Stenosis (PCI-AS).

He provides academic supervision and mentorship to clinicians completing post-graduate research programmes and has examined at doctoral level. He is a reviewer for several journals and has published a number of peer-reviewed papers on head and neck cancer, lung cancer, palliative care and ethical issues and spoken at meetings and conferences internationally. Most recently, he has been a keynote/ invited speaker at the scientific meetings of the Australian and New Zealand Head and Neck Cancer Society, Indian Foundation for Head and Neck Oncology, Patient and Caregiver Education Symposium at Stanford University,  European Laryngology Society, Indian Cancer Congress and European Society for Swallowing Disorders, American Head and Neck Society and Asia-Pacific Laryngological Association. He has accepted invitations to speak at a number of meetings in the year ahead including the Irish Head and Neck Society and 7th Congress of the Confederation of European ORL-HNS, 

Justin is an EMCC accredited coach and mentor practitioner with the Imperial College Coaching Academy and is also a member of the coaching and mentoring team at the Royal Marsden. Justin also provides coaching and mentorship to clinicians in the UK and internationally and provides interim clinical service leadership. This included a year-long assignment at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals as an Honorary Consultant Speech and Language Therapist providing clinical support and professional leadership to a team of specialist therapists providing care to people with respiratory disease, requiring cardiothoracic surgery and heart and lung transplantation. He currently provides leadership and mentorship, supporting the clinical service at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre. Justin also works with the head and neck cancer/ speech pathology service at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai where he holds a visiting faculty appointment and provides regular clinical education opportunities and supports service development initiatives.

In addition to running education programmes in cancer rehabilitation at the Royal Marsden, Justin has been Course Director for the highly evaluated Imperial Voice Therapy and Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) courses held at Imperial College London. He was invited faculty on the Advanced FEES Course led by Professor Susan Langmore in 2021 and 2023 and has also provided bespoke FEES training to clinical teams. As a Point of Care Foundation Associate, he contributes to EBCD education programmes. 

Justin is a member of the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists, British Laryngological Association, Dysphagia Research Society, European Head and Neck Society, European Mentoring and Coaching Council, Institute of Leadership and Management, Irish Head and Neck Society and United Kingdom Swallowing Research Group. 

Justin was awarded a RCSLT Fellowship for his contribution to the profession in 2018. In 2022, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Years Honours for his contribution to speech and language therapy, including his role during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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