Rachel Hargest

Rachel Hargest is an academic colorectal surgeon at the Cardiff China Medical Research Collaborative. Her clinical interests include anal cancer and AIN, advanced colorectal cancer, polyposis and other familial cancers and intestinal failure, for which the team in Cardiff won the BMJ Gastroenterology Team of the Year Award 2015. She is an expert teacher and trainer of students and junior surgeons. 

In 2019 Rachel was awarded the inaugural FST Medal by the Faculty of Surgical Trainers of RCS Edinburgh in recognition of exceptional and long-standing contribution to surgical training. In 2017 she was presented with the Silver Scalpel Award, given by ASIT to the best surgical trainer in the UK. Her research interests include genetic changes in colorectal, gastric and lung cancer metastases, early diagnosis of colorectal cancer, gene therapy, anal fistula and the role of guidelines in controlling surgical practice. She supervises both MD and PhD students in Cardiff and Beijing. She is a trustee of SARS, and a member of many professional associations, including ACPGBI, ASGBI, BSG, Royal Society of Medicine (Past President of Surgery Section 2016-17, and former Trustee 2012-19) and The British Society of Gene and Stem Cell Therapy.