Dr. Douglas Easton

Biography

Professor Douglas Easton is currently the Director of the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology within the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. He studied Mathematical Statistics at the University of Cambridge before earning his PhD in Genetic Epidemiology from the University of London in 1992. In 1995, he established the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge and served as Principal Research Fellow from 2001 to 2011. He was awarded a Professorship in Genetic Epidemiology in 2003 and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022. His research focuses on identifying and characterizing genetic variants associated with cancer risk, with a particular emphasis on hormone-related cancers. He works on understanding the functional basis of common cancer susceptibility, developing genetic risk scores for implementing cancer risk models such as BOADICEA, and identifying cancer risk genes through population and family-based studies. His involvement in specific research programs includes the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), EMBRACE, and BRIDGES. Professor Easton has lectured in the MPhil Epidemiology program and currently mentors PhD students in addition to teaching in the Natural Sciences Tripos Biochemistry Course.

Research Interests