Ernest Francis Bashford OBE (1873 – 23 August 1923) was an influential English oncologist who pioneered the biological approach to the study of cancer.

[1] At Edinburgh he was Vans Dunlop Scholar in anatomy, chemistry, zoology and botany, Mackenzie Bursar in practical anatomy, and won the Wightman Prize in Clinical Medicine for his essay, "Some notes on cases treated in Ward XXVI of the Royal Infirmary during winter session 1896-97",[2] the Patterson Prize in Clinical Surgery, was appointed to the Houldsworth research scholarship in experimental pharmacology and won the Stark scholarship in clinical medicine and pathology.

[4] Following graduation, he was awarded the McCosh graduate scholarship for study and research in Europe, an award which enabled him to travel to Germany, where he worked with Paul Ehrlich at the Royal Prussian Institute for Experimental Therapeutics, Frankfurt am Main, and then with Oscar Liebreich in the Pharmalogical Institute in Berlin.

[3] In 1901 he won the Milner Fothergill Gold Medal in Therapeutics at the University of Edinburgh[5] and returned there to work as an assistant to Thomas Richard Fraser, professor of clinical medicine.

[1] During this time, he established the modern practice of experimental investigation of cancer in Britain, asserting that it was a biological problem and not confined to human pathology.