Although Richard Sylvester officially retired in May 2012 after nearly 37 years at EORTC Headquarters, most of which were spent as the head of the Statistics Department, his scientific activities still keep him very busy.
Richard still works one day a week at EORTC Headquarters pursuing his main research interest, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The EORTC database of bladder cancer studies provides a valuable source of data for his research on prognostic factors and more specifically the prognostic and predictive effect of age.
Dr. Sylvester recently stepped down as the Statistical Editor of European Urology, and in recognition of his work for the journal, both as editor and reviewer and also for his publications in the journal, he recently received the journal's 2014 Platinum Award for excellence during the 2014 European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Stockholm.
Richard still maintains a number of activities with the EAU and is a member of both the EAU NMIBC Guidelines Panel and the EAU Guidelines Office Board. As part of his work for the EAU Guidelines Office, he chairs the Methodology Committee which is reviewing and updating the methodology used for guideline production.
As a joint project between the EORTC and the EAU, Richard has also launched a new systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis to try to identify which NMIBC patients benefit from a single immediate instillation of chemotherapy after transurethral resection.
His spare time is devoted to his love of photography and his photographic activities both here in Brussels and with the Royal Photographic Society which is based in the United Kingdom. Photography provides a welcome artistic complement to the more scientific aspects which he will still pursue in his day to day life.