Incredible Achievements for Dr Dasgupta and the CUP Team!

10 March 2025

Congratulations to Dr Sonali Dasgupta and Velindre's regional Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) service!

The regional CUP team at Velindre, led by Dr Sonali Dasgupta, has recently secured the prestigious Moondance Cancer Initiative Keith James Grant. With this, a core team of 5 multi-disciplinary CUP professionals from primary, secondary and tertiary care will be travelling to the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) to learn from their experience and bring home expertise to be shared with Wales and the rest of the UK. This collaboration has been facilitated by globally leading CUP patient advocacy forum, the World CUP Alliance (WCA), where Dr Dasgupta sits as one of the 22 international Clinical Advisory Board members.

Additionally, Dr Sonali Dasgupta has been awarded the National Impact Award (ACCIA). This NHS award is a public acknowledgement and recognition of high quality work that makes a deep and far reaching impact on patient pathways. 

 "Our main achievement is that we may have managed to shift CUP paradigm from being ‘nobody’s business’ to ‘everybody’s business’. This group of patients are well recognised for late diagnosis, lack of ownership due to diagnostic dilemmas, and very poor prognosis. Ultimately, our goal is to enhance these clinical outcomes as well as patient experience in a holistic manner that underpins the very essence of patient-centred care by implementing personalised treatment plans."

Dr Sonali Dasgupta