Photo of Dr Dawn Carnell

Dr Dawn Carnell

Telephone:

Email:

Location:

  • University College Hospital

GMC/GDC number:

3561616

Professional background

Dr Dawn Carnell is a consultant clinical oncologist based at University College Hospital London since 2005, working and teaching within an exceptional multidisciplinary team of dedicated professionals in head and neck cancer. 

She trained at The Royal Marsden and University College Hospital. Her UCL research (MD), CRUK sponsored, investigated cancer hypoxia and Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) Magnetic Resonance Imaging, led to translational research for radiation dose escalation aiming to achieve higher cancer cure rates. Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy is given as the standard of care with concurrent chemotherapy, immunotherapy and molecular targeted treatments where indicated. She has a particular interest in sinus tumours, including rare olfactory neuroblastoma and peri-orbital tumours, where tailored surgery and proton beam therapy can deliver an effective cure with reduced late effects. Proton Beam Therapy, now available at University College Hospital, is of value for younger patients or where the tumour is close to radiosensitive tissues. Dr Carnell is part of the proton head and neck multidisciplinary team delivering this treatment where clinically indicated and offering national studies.  

Qualifications:  

  • BSc (University of London RFHSM) Immunopathology 1989 
  • MBBS (University of London) Merit in Medicine and Surgery 1991 
  • MRCP (UK)1996   
  • FRCR 2000 
  • MD (UCL) 2012 
  • GCP (current)

Specialties

Research interests

Her research interests include the technical delivery of radiotherapy whilst minimising late effects - national studies such as PARSPORT, COSTAR and PET-NECK, UCLH based PET and Functional MRI radiotherapy studies and fibrosis/late effects trials in head and neck cancer. Principal Investigator at UCH for the PROTIS trial - opened October 2025. 

Publications

1: Lund VJ, Clarke PM, Swift AC, McGarry GW, Kerawala C, Carnell D. Nose and paranasal sinus tumours: United Kingdom National Multidisciplinary Guidelines. J Laryngol Otol. 2016 May;130(S2):S111-S118. doi: 10.1017/S0022215116000530. PMID: 27841122; PMCID: PMC4873911. 

2: Lechner M, Takahashi Y, Turri-Zanoni M, Liu J, Counsell N, Hermsen M, Kaur RP, Zhao T, Ramanathan M Jr, Schartinger VH, Emanuel O, Helman S, Varghese J, Dudas J, Riechelmann H, Sprung S, Haybaeck J, Howard D, Engel NW, Stewart S, Brooks L, Pickles JC, Jacques TS, Fenton TR, Williams L, Vaz FM, O'Flynn P, Stimpson P, Wang S, Hannan SA, Unadkat S, Hughes J, Dwivedi R, Forde CT, Randhawa P, Gane S, Joseph J, Andrews PJ, Royle G, Franchi A, Maragliano R, Battocchio S, Bewicke-Copley H, Pipinikas C, Webster A, Thirlwell C, Ho D, Teschendorff A, Zhu T, Steele CD, Pillay N, Vanhaesebroeck B, Mohyeldin A, Fernandez-Miranda J, Park KW, Le QT, West RB, Saade R, Manes RP, Omay SB, Vining EM, Judson BL, Yarbrough WG, Sansovini M, Silvia N, Grassi I, Bongiovanni A, Capper D, Schüller U, Thavaraj S, Sandison A, Surda P, Hopkins C, Ferrari M, Mattavelli D, Rampinelli V, Facchetti F, Nicolai P, Bossi P, Henriquez OA, Magliocca K, Solares CA, Wise SK, Llorente JL, Patel ZM, Nayak JV, Hwang PH, Lacy PD, Woods R, O'Neill JP, Jay A, Carnell D, Forster MD, Ishii M, London NR Jr, Bell DM, Gallia GL, Castelnuovo P, Severi S, Lund VJ, Hanna EY. Clinical outcomes, Kadish-INSICA staging and therapeutic targeting of somatostatin receptor 2 in olfactory neuroblastoma. Eur J Cancer. 2022 Feb;162:221-236. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2021.09.046. Epub 2021 Dec 31. PMID: 34980502; PMCID: PMC9554673. 

3: Lechner M, Takahashi Y, Turri-Zanoni M, Ferrari M, Liu J, Counsell N, Mattavelli D, Rampinelli V, Vermi W, Lombardi D, Saade R, Park KW, Schartinger VH, Franchi A, Facco C, Sessa F, Battocchio S, Fenton TR, Vaz FM, O'Flynn P, Howard D, Stimpson P, Wang S, Hannan SA, Unadkat S, Hughes J, Dwivedi R, Forde CT, Randhawa P, Gane S, Joseph J, Andrews PJ, Dave M, Fleming JC, Thomson D, Zhu T, Teschendorff A, Royle G, Steele C, Jimenez JE, Laco J, Wang EW, Snyderman C, Lacy PD, Woods R, O'Neill JP, Saraswathula A, Kaur RP, Zhao T, Ramanathan M Jr, Gallia GL, London NR Jr, Le QT, West RB, Patel ZM, Nayak JV, Hwang PH, Hermsen M, Llorente J, Facchetti F, Nicolai P, Bossi P, Castelnuovo P, Jay A, Carnell D, Forster MD, Bell DM, Lund VJ, Hanna EY. International Multicenter Study of Clinical Outcomes of Sinonasal Melanoma Shows Survival Benefit for Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors and Potential Improvements to the Current TNM Staging System. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. 2022 Jul 10;84(4):307-319. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1750178. PMID: 37405239; PMCID: PMC10317567. 

4: Papoutsaki MV, Sidhu HS, Dikaios N, Singh S, Atkinson D, Kanber B, Beale T, Morley S, Forster M, Carnell D, Mendes R, Punwani S. Utility of diffusion MRI characteristics of cervical lymph nodes as disease classifier between patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and healthy volunteers. NMR Biomed. 2021 Nov;34(11):e4587. doi: 10.1002/nbm.4587. Epub 2021 Jul 8. PMID: 34240782. 

5: Mercadante V, Hamad AA, McCaul J, Nutting C, Harrington K, Carnell D, Urbano TG, Kalavrezos N, Barber JA, Porter SR, Fedele S. Salivary Electrostimulation in the Treatment of Radiation Therapy-Induced Xerostomia (LEONIDAS-2): A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Masked, Sham-Controlled, Phase 3 Trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2024 Jan 1;118(1):142-153. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2023.03.047. Epub 2023 Mar 17. PMID: 36933846. 

6: Hoskin PJ, Carnell DM, Taylor NJ, Smith RE, Stirling JJ, Daley FM, Saunders MI, Bentzen SM, Collins DJ, d'Arcy JA, Padhani AP. Hypoxia in prostate cancer: correlation of BOLD-MRI with pimonidazole immunohistochemistry-initial observations. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2007 Jul 15;68(4):1065-71. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2007.01.018. PMID: 17637389. 

7: Clark CH, Miles EA, Urbano MT, Bhide SA, Bidmead AM, Harrington KJ, Nutting CM; UK PARSPORT Trial Management Group collaborators. Pre-trial quality assurance processes for an intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) trial: PARSPORT, a UK multicentre Phase III trial comparing conventional radiotherapy and parotid-sparing IMRT for locally advanced head and neck cancer. Br J Radiol. 2009 Jul;82(979):585-94. doi: 10.1259/bjr/31966505. Epub 2009 Mar 30. PMID: 19332518. 

8: Nikolov S, Blackwell S, Zverovitch A, Mendes R, Livne M, De Fauw J, Patel Y, Meyer C, Askham H, Romera-Paredes B, Kelly C, Karthikesalingam A, Chu C, Carnell D, Boon C, D'Souza D, Moinuddin SA, Garie B, McQuinlan Y, Ireland S, Hampton K, Fuller K, Montgomery H, Rees G, Suleyman M, Back T, Hughes CO, Ledsam JR, Ronneberger O. Clinically Applicable Segmentation of Head and Neck Anatomy for Radiotherapy: Deep Learning Algorithm Development and Validation Study. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jul 12;23(7):e26151. doi: 10.2196/26151. PMID: 34255661; PMCID: PMC8314151. 

9: Ng QS, Goh V, Carnell D, Meer K, Padhani AR, Saunders MI, Hoskin PJ. Tumor antivascular effects of radiotherapy combined with combretastatin a4 phosphate in human non-small-cell lung cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2007 Apr 1;67(5):1375-80. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2006.11.028. Epub 2007 Feb 1. PMID: 17275203. 

10: Saraswathula A, Ullah MN, Liu J, Takahashi Y, Mahajan A, Battocchio S, Bossi P, Castelnuovo P, Facco C, Ferrari M, Carnell D, Forster MD, Franchi A, Jay A, Lombardi D, Lund VJ, Mattavelli D, Nicolai P, Rampinelli V, Sessa F, Su SY, Turri-Zanoni M, Ardighieri L, McKean E, Lechner M, Hanna E, London NR Jr. International, Multi-Institutional Evaluation of Practice Patterns and Outcomes for Recurrent and Metastatic Sinonasal Undifferentiated Carcinoma. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. 2024 Oct 3;86(5):538-546. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1791573. PMID: 40894423; PMCID: PMC12396877. 

11: Carnell DM, Smith RE, Daley FM, Barber PR, Hoskin PJ, Wilson GD, Murray GI, Everett SA. Target validation of cytochrome P450 CYP1B1 in prostate carcinoma with protein expression in associated hyperplastic and premalignant tissue. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004 Feb 1;58(2):500-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2003.09.064. PMID: 14751521. 

12: Ng QS, Mandeville H, Goh V, Alonzi R, Milner J, Carnell D, Meer K, Padhani AR, Saunders MI, Hoskin PJ. Phase Ib trial of radiotherapy in combination with combretastatin-A4-phosphate in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, prostate adenocarcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Ann Oncol. 2012 Jan;23(1):231-237. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdr332. Epub 2011 Jul 15. PMID: 21765046. 

13: Sultan AA, Jerjes W, Berg K, Høgset A, Mosse CA, Hamoudi R, Hamdoon Z, Simeon C, Carnell D, Forster M, Hopper C. Disulfonated tetraphenyl chlorin (TPCS2a)-induced photochemical internalisation of bleomycin in patients with solid malignancies: a phase 1, dose-escalation, first-in-man trial. Lancet Oncol. 2016 Sep;17(9):1217-29. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30224-8. Epub 2016 Jul 28. PMID: 27475428. 

14: Sidhu HS, Price D, Beale T, Morley S, Adeleke S, Papoutsaki MV, Forster M, Carnell D, Mendes R, Taylor SA, Punwani S. Oxygen-Enhanced R2* Weighted MRI and Diffusion Weighted MRI of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer Lymph Nodes in Prediction of 2-Year Outcome Following Chemoradiotherapy. Cancers (Basel). 2025 Jul 14;17(14):2333. doi: 10.3390/cancers17142333. PMID: 40723218; PMCID: PMC12293685. 

15: Carnell DM, Smith RE, Daley FM, Saunders MI, Bentzen SM, Hoskin PJ. An immunohistochemical assessment of hypoxia in prostate carcinoma using pimonidazole: implications for radioresistance. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2006 May 1;65(1):91-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2005.11.044. Epub 2006 Mar 24. PMID: 16563659.