Rob Cornes

Rob has been with Orchid for over 10 years working as a male cancer information nurse specialist. In his different roles he has met literally thousands of men affected by male cancer and gained valuable insight into the information that they need. He is a firm advocate of both written and verbal information, having learnt from experience that both make a huge difference to patients and their families. Rob is well respected by peers within the male cancer field and our monitoring shows how callers to our Helpline value his expertise, understanding and support. He has also been the chair of a large prostate cancer support group based in Essex, PHASE, as well as supporting other peer support groups for testicular and penile cancer. Rob’s expertise led to Orchid working closely with eUROGEN a European organisation dedicated to improving the outcomes for rare urological conditions by enabling equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, and care for patients across Europe. Along with two independent patient advocates Rob is an advocate for penile and testicular cancer for eUROGEN. He also represents penile and testicular cancer advocacy on behalf of Orchid within the European Association of Urology, (EAU) Patient Advocacy Group. Both these roles have led to him giving talks at International Conferences including the EAU Congress in Amsterdam and Milan, the largest urological conference in Europe. This passion for improving support and outcomes for those affected by penile led to the creation of Penile Cancer International Awareness Day which now follows on from Orchid’s Male Cancer Awareness Week.

Rob qualified as a Registered General Nurse (RGN) in 1991 at Barking Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust (BHR) where he had undertaken his training. He began work as a staff nurse on the urology ward and continued to work within urology at BHR for the next 12 years, becoming Charge Nurse in 1997. He left the ward in 2003 and took up the position of a Clinical Trials Nurse with St Bartholomew’s Hospital, a post partially funded by Orchid.

In 2004 Rob became Uro-oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist at BHR and remained in this post until 2013. He was the designated key worker for anyone diagnosed with urological malignancy. He also leads the Orchid Patient Advocacy Group (OPAG).