Tessa Holyoake

Tessa Laurie Holyoake, FRCP FRCPath FMedSci FRSE (17 March 1963 – 30 August 2017) was a Scottish haematology-oncology physician. She specialised in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), and discovered its stem cell. She was considered a world leading expert in leukaemia research.[1]

Tessa Laurie Holyoake

FRCP FRCPath FMedSci FRSE
Photograph of Tessa Holyoake
Tessa Holyoake
Born(1963-03-17)17 March 1963
Aberdeen, Scotland
Died30 August 2017(2017-08-30) (aged 54)
Loch Tummel, Perthshire, Scotland
NationalityScottish
EducationUniversity of Glasgow
Occupation(s)medical doctor, clinical scientist
Years active–2017
Known fordiscovered stem cell of chronic myeloid leukaemia
Medical career
InstitutionsUniversity of Glasgow, Terry Fox Laboratory
Sub-specialtiesoncology
Researchchronic myeloid leukaemia

Early life and education

Tessa Holyoake was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on 17 March 1963. She attended Albyn School.[2] She studied medicine at the University of Glasgow, and graduated in 1985.[3] She completed her PhD at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow.[4]

Career and research

After specialising in oncology, she worked from 1992 to 1996 as a clinical research fellow at the Cancer Research Campaign's laboratories in Glasgow. From 1996 to 1998, she worked at Terry Fox Laboratory in Vancouver and discovered that primitive stem cells in CML existed in a quiescent state, and therefore they did not respond to cell cycle-active agents like imatinib.[5]

In 1999, she returned to Glasgow Royal Infirmary and in 2004, became Professor of Experimental Haematology, and Director of the Paul O'Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre.[3] In 2005, she first presented work showing that a combination of imatinib or dasatinib with a farnesyl transferase inhibitor was better at eradicating CML stem cells, which was published in 2007.[6]

She developed a drug treatment to target the abnormal CML stem cell, to go beyond the current lifelong tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment.

Awards and honours

Personal life

Tessa Holyoake was married to Andy, a general practitioner; they had no children. She enjoyed mountain biking, hill walking, and kayaking, and fundraised for the Leukaemia Research Centre by cycling and climbing Munros.[7]

In addition to her research work, she continued a clinical practice as a consultant at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow.[11]

On 31 August 2017, she died of metastatic breast cancer near Loch Tummel, Perthshire. The disease had been diagnosed in 2016.[3]

References
  1. "University of Glasgow - MyGlasgow - MyGlasgow News - Professor Tessa Holyoake". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  2. Copland, Mhairi; Evans, Jeff; Samson, Owen; Drummond, Mark (2017). "Tessa Holyoake". BMJ: j4224. doi:10.1136/bmj.j4224. S2CID 220093089.
  3. Geoff Watts (7 October 2017). "Obituary Tessa Laurie Holyoake". The Lancet. 390 (10103): 1640. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32557-6.
  4. Bockwinkel, Stefanie. "iCMLf - The 2017 Rowley Prize is awarded to Professor Tessa Holyoake". www.cml-foundation.org. Retrieved 30 December 2017. The Rowley Prize is awarded each year by the International CML Foundation to celebrate people who have made outstanding lifetime contributions to the understanding of the biology of CML. Professor Holyoake receives the prize in recognition of her ground breaking work understanding and targeting CML stem cells.
  5. Holyoake T, Jiang X, Eaves C, Eaves A (1999). "Isolation of a highly quiescent subpopulation of primitive leukemic cells in chronic myeloid leukemia". Blood. 94 (6): 2056–64. doi:10.1182/blood.V94.6.2056. PMID 10477735.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Copland M, Pellicano F, Richmond L, Allan EK, Hamilton A, Lee FY, Weinmann R, Holyoake TL (2008). "BMS-214662 potently induces apoptosis of chronic myeloid leukemia stem and progenitor cells and synergizes with tyrosine kinase inhibitors". Blood. 111 (5): 2843–53. doi:10.1182/blood-2007-09-112573. PMID 18156496.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "'A brilliant lady in every sense of the word' tributes paid to ground breaking University of Glasgow professor". Glasgow live. 7 September 2017.
  8. Eaves, Connie J. (20 September 2017). "Tessa Laurie Holyoake, (March 17, 1963 – August 30, 2017): Remembering a Life That Knew No Boundaries". Experimental Hematology. 55: 1–2. doi:10.1016/j.exphem.2017.09.005.
  9. "2015 Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun Awards". Saltire Society. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  10. "Major Award for Glasgow Cancer Specialist". Scottish Cancer Foundation. 26 November 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  11. "Obituary: Tessa Holyoake". The Times. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2020. Most notably, she was the first to identify the existence of cancer stem cells in CML in 1999, during her research fellowship in Vancouver. Later, she demonstrated the resistance of these stem cells to CML-specific therapies such as imatinib. Holyoake made a world-leading contribution to her field by identifying key CML stem cell survival pathways that can be manipulated to develop potential new treatments.
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