Willie Hamilton

William Trevor Hamilton (born 1958) is a British expert in cancer diagnosis. He is professor of primary care diagnostics at the University of Exeter.

He specialises in primary care diagnostics, with particular expertise in cancer.

Early life and education

Hamilton was born in 1958 in Belfast. He moved to England to study medicine at the University of Bristol, qualifying in 1982, having added an intercalated degree in Medical Microbiology in 1979. Following this, general medical training and 2.5 years as a physician in Malawi, he trained to become a general practitioner in 1989. Hamilton became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) of the United Kingdom in 1986 and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in 1989. In 2001, Hamilton was forced to take a break from his career in general practice due to an infected cochlear implant and began full-time research. He was awarded Fellowship of the RCGP in 2002 and a year later, in 2003, received Fellowship of the RCP. He also received a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2005 from the University of Bristol, with his thesis title of 'Earlier diagnosis of colorectal, lung and prostate cancer'.

Hamilton also created the cancer 'Risk Assessment Tools' or 'RATs' for short. This research identified and quantified the risk of symptoms that were linked to 15 different cancers. This included the discovery that a sore throat is a feature of larynx cancer. Risk Assessment Tools have been part of the effort to increase diagnosis of cancer in the UK.

A study in BJGP has concluded that the uptake of Risk Assessment Tools have been shown that these aren't being used as much as initially anticipated, however, a large study is due to take shape during the second half of 2019 with the aim that there will be a new uptake of these tools to diagnose cancer

Through the course of his career, Hamilton has published over 250 papers. and has received more than 40 research grants, totalling over £20m He collected his award at Buckingham Palace 7 March 2019.

Personal life

Northern Ireland Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he has competed in two different disciplines for his country.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Hamilton fenced internationally for Northern Ireland.

More recently, he competed in Bridge for Northern Ireland, alongside his brother Ian in the Camrose Trophy. They were selected to represent Northern Ireland on two occasions in 2010 and 2011 with England and Wales winning in respective years.

Hearing During his teens, Hamilton started losing his hearing and was profoundly deaf by the age of 30, after which he wore hearing aids for a number of years. As his hearing deteriorated, he learnt to lip read to be able to continue his work as a GP. He was offered a cochlear implant in 2000, which became infected and he had to take a break from his career.

In 2016, he received a successful cochlear implant, restoring his hearing after several years of profound deafness.