Paal F. Brunsvig is is a trained doctor who has worked in the field of oncology for 24 years, and has a broad background. Brunsvig has for example been responsible for the lung cancer treatment programme at the Norwegian Radium Hospital and he has also specialised in malign melanoma.

“The first five years in oncology I worked with all kinds of cancer patients at a district hospital in Norway. This was a very valuable experience,” says Brunsvig.

Increased capacity
Today he is in literally Oslo Cancer Clusters “man” at the Clinical Cancer Research Unit, a position sponsored to increase the capacity of the number of clinical trials being performed here.

“There is a definite need for increasing and strengthening clinical cancer research in Norway. My position ensures both that more patients get access to clinical cancer research and that more potential treatments can be tested,” says Brunsvig.

The cancer patients he meets every day has either no effect of the standard treatment available, or there are not any standard treatments for them. For these patients, the Clinical Cancer Research Unit represents hope.

"The ethical side of this is that we as doctors, oncologist and in the end humans, must behave in a way that makes these people safe. That is very important to me,” says Brunsvig.

20 ongoing studies
Most of the time Brunsvig and his colleagues are in charge of around 20 different ongoing studies – studies that either originated from the research environments at the hospital or the University of Oslo, or from members of the Oslo Cancer Cluster or big, international pharmacy companies.

“I am really happy to be a part of this cooperation between science, lab, clinic and business that Oslo Cancer Cluster represents. I also think the innovation park being planned next door to us will take this collaboration an important step further,” says Brunsvig. 

To learn more about the Clinical Research Unit go to their website or download this brochure about the Unit.