Consultant receives national award for cancer research

08 July 2025

A consultant from York Hospital has received a national innovation award for her role in a groundbreaking study which could complement cancer screening in the future.

Jenny Piper, a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was named as one of the winners in The Medipex NHS Innovation Awards and Showcase 2025. This was awarded alongside Dr Theo Issitt, from Respiro Diagnostics who developed the breath test and worked with Jenny on the study.

The awards aim to shine a light on innovative ideas for new health technologies designed to deliver patient benefits and improve the healthcare service.  Miss Piper’s involvement on an innovative breath test to detect breast cancer early, won the showcase category for ‘Delivering Benefits through Diagnosis and Screening’.

In a pilot study at York Hospital, the breath test demonstrated a 98% accuracy rate in distinguishing between normal, benign, and cancerous breast tissues from breath samples. The device uses expelled air to detect chemical markers of cancer which may be in the breath.

Following future studies, it is this technology that could become a complementary tool for mammography, potentially reducing unnecessary referrals, as currently 8% of patients sent to breast clinics have cancer in York. The test is quick, painless, and provides results in a timely manner.

The research received initial funding from the Elsie May Sykes Fund (awarded by the York & Scarborough Hospitals Charity) and was supported through its development by the Trust’s Research and Innovation Department.

Alongside Dr Theo Issitt, Miss Piper collaborated on the research with Professor James Turvill, Consultant Gastroenterologist with the Trust, and Dr Kelly Redeker from the University of York.

Reflecting on her collaborative achievement, Miss Piper explained: “It’s great news for the Trust.  I have been receiving so many messages of congratulations from NHS colleagues all over the country. I’m very proud to have received the award.  I’d like to add it’s been a wonderful team effort, and this award is for every member of the team who has been involved.”

Head of Research and Innovation, Lydia Harris, extended a massive congratulations to Miss Piper and the collaborators.  She said: “We are so pleased Jenny and her colleagues have won this accolade. It’s fantastic to see an initial smaller project internally funded grow from strength to strength.  I look forward to continuing to work with our collaborators to continue to drive this project.”

The Medipex NHS Innovation Awards and Showcase 2025 is designed to improve future NHS services. For 2025, entries were invited from NHS-led teams from all over the UK. The awards had a panel of external and internal judges who were asked to select from a pool of 25 different organisations.

Medipex Chief Executive Officer, Lindsay Georgopoulos, explained: “The judging panel were blown away by the quality of the applications and the range of innovations submitted. The entries were a huge hit, each using a different method of conveying information about the problem that they’re solving, and the benefits offered by their solution.  A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to enter, and congratulations to all our winners.”