Personal chair for Mark Chaplain

Professor Mark Chaplain's contribution to the SIMBIOS (Scottish Informatics, Mathematics, Biology and Statistics) centre and his ten years of pioneering research into the mathematical modelling of cancer tumours was recently recognised by the University with a personal chair. Mark shared his thoughts with Contact.

Despite his youth, Mark's association with the University dates back many years. It was to Dundee's mathematics department that he was accepted in 1982 as a teenager to study for a BSc in applied mathematics. Mark believes it was the excellent undergraduate programme and then the range of PhD projects offered by Professor Brian Sleeman that attracted him initially and have made his career so fruitful. Mark graduated in 1986 and became a trainee actuary with Scottish Widows. He soon discovered that the financial world was not for him and enquired about PhD projects. He recalls, "The project that really grabbed my attention was the modelling of cancer growth because I saw the opportunity for mathematics to make a real impact helping people and applying the subject to a real problem."

His work together with that of other mathematicians and life scientists will be taken to the next stage in the SIMBIOS centre, a joint venture between the University of Dundee and the University of Abertay, to construct mathematical models for medical and environmental problems.

When asked about the significance of his own contribution to cancer research Mark is quick to point out that it is a team effort which has made their advances possible. "Although the chair has been awarded in recognition of my research, a lot of that work has been done with other very clever people so it's a genuine joint effort. I don't think we can solve the cancer problem using mathematics but we are working towards what could be a very big step in terms of improving patient treatment. I think it will involve a lot of different people doing different things and finding lots of little solutions to collectively contribute to a bigger solution."

The new professor was modest about the personal achievement that his chair represents. "I would think of myself as someone who enjoys mathematics and who likes applying it to interesting medical problems. I've been lucky enough to come up with some nice equations which have a good application and a lot of that's down to hard work, sweat and tears." Professor Chaplain said that he thought Thomas Edison got it right when he observed, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."

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