Tessa Holyoake

Tessa Laurie Holyoake (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.

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

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.

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 Scottish Health Awards Cancer Care Award, 2009 Scottish Alba Saltire Society Fletcher of Saltoun Award, 2015 Scottish Cancer Foundation Inaugural Prize, 2015 Evans/Forrest Medal, 2015 Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists

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

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