The Scottish PDT Centre
Alfred Stewart’s association with photodynamic therapy (PDT) traces back to 1993, when his first wife Barbara received excellent cancer care that significantly improved her quality of life until her passing in 1999.
In honour of this transformative care, he established the Barbara Stewart Cancer Fund, which exclusively funded the Scottish Photodynamic Therapy Centre (SPDTC), based at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, for its first six years, officially opening in 2001.
Continued support from the Alfred Stewart Trust to the SPDTC, along with funding from the associated charity Medi-Lase, and the generous donations from patients and families, have propelled the SPDTC to its current status as a global leader in photodynamic therapy.
This therapeutic approach, utilising light-activated drugs and visible light, is offered at the SPDTC as a vital diagnostic and therapeutic option for patients with specific cancers, including skin, brain, lung, and bladder cancers.
Since its inception, the SPDTC have undertaken approximately 14,500 PDT and photodiagnostic procedures for patients in Scotland. The Centre is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in PDT, offering crucial patient-directed research, training and education in the use of PDT and photodiagnostic techniques.
