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Oxford has made major contributions to our understanding of cancer. The link between smoking and cancer was demonstrated here by Sir Richard Doll and the existence of tumour suppressor genes was demonstrated in cell fusion experiments by Sir Henry Harris. Following substantial investment in the past decade, and the relocation of the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research from London in 2007, Oxford now has one of the highest concentrations of world-class cancer research in the world.  Much of the expansion has occurred at the Old Road Campus, conveniently located near the new NHS Oxford Cancer Centre.

Oxford is rated particularly highly in cancer epidemiology, genome integrity, radiation biology and translational research. There is basic and translational research into environmental risk factors and the molecular genetic basis of cancer, including oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes, genome integrity and repair. The tumour environment has become a major new area of research, and Oxford leads the way in understanding the role of hypoxia, angiogenesis, growth factors, metastasis and stem cells in cancer. Oxford has invested in early phase clinical trials and developing personalized medicine in partnership with Cancer Research UK, and develops radiation treatments in partnership with the Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.

Departments in which cancer research is a major theme include the Departments of Oncology and Biochemistry, the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology and the Nuffield Departments of: Clinical Medicine; Clinical Laboratory Sciences; Surgical Sciences; Primary Care Health Sciences; and Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences.

Cancer research is also performed in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine and at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics.

Some supervisors working in this theme are not included here as they are not in the Medical Sciences Division. They can be found in the Departments of Chemistry, Engineering, Physics and Zoology

Oxford Cancer awards a number of generous 4 year DPhil studentships every year, funded by Cancer Research UK. All applicants applying on a cancer-related project, across all departments, will automatically be considered for these studentships and can explicitly request that they be considered when they make their application.  These prestigious studentships will be awarded to the highest calibre applicants from across all relevant Departments.


The Centre also awards 2 Clinical Research Fellowships each year, available for clinicians wishing to undertake a DPhil and provides MSc bursaries for clinicians and allied health professionals to undertake a MSc at Oxford.

Supervisors in Cancer


Aziz Aboobaker

Professor of Comparative and Functional Genomics,Tutorial Fellow, and Dean of ...

Ahmed Ahmed

Professor of Gynaecological Oncology

Naomi Allen

Professor in Epidemiology

Mara Artibani

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Cancer Stem Cells

Colin Baigent

Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology

Clare Bankhead

Professor of Epidemiology and Research Design

Rachael Bashford-Rogers

Esther Becker

Professor of Translational Neuroscience

Valerie Beral

Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology

Sarah Blagden

Professor of Experimental Oncology

Chas Bountra

Neil Brockdorff

Professor of Biochemistry and Wellcome Principle Research Fellow

Tom Brown

Richard Bryant

Associate Professor of Urology and Academic Director of NDS SITU

Simon Buczacki

Richard Blackwell Pharsalia Professor of Colorectal Surgery

Shijie Cai

Principal Investigator

Pedro Carvalho

EP Abraham Professor of Cell Biology

Zhengming Chen

Richard Peto Professor of Epidemiology

Mark Coles

Professor of Immunology

Jonathan Cook

Professor of Clinical Trials & Medical Statistics/OCTRU Deputy Director

Lynne Cox

Associate Professor

Nicholas Crump

Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund Intermediate Research Fellow

David Cutter

Clinical Research Fellow (CTSU) and Consultant Clinical Oncologist (Oxford ...

Vincenzo D'Angiolella

Professor of Molecular Oncology

Sarah Darby

Professor of Medical Statistics

James Dunford

Senior Research Associate

Omer Dushek

Professor of Molecular Immunology, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow

Terry Dwyer

Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology, Nuffield Department of Women’s & ...

Lars E.T. Jansen

Wellcome Senior Research Fellow

Alistair Easton

Senior Clinical Researcher

Claire Edwards

Professor of Bone Oncology

James Edwards

Associate Professor

Ben Fairfax

Consultant in Medical Oncology

Fiona Powrie FRS

Professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences and Director of the Kennedy Institute

Andre Furger

Associate Professor

Amato Giaccia

Professor of Radiation Oncology

Ian Gibbs-Seymour

CRUK Career Development Fellow

Fergus Gleeson

Professor of Radiology

Anne Goriely

Professor of Human Genetics

Jane Green

Professor of Epidemiology

Ulrike Gruneberg

Professor of Molecular Cell Biology

Ester Hammond

Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology

Penny Handford

Professor of Biochemistry

Maria Harkiolaki

Principal Beamline Scientist

Bass Hassan

Geoff Higgins

Associate Professor

Michael Holmes

Associate Professor

Yoshi Itoh

Associate Professor and Principal Investigator Cell Migration Group

David Jackson

Professor of Human Immunology

Aarti Jagannath

Associate Professor

Shisong Jiang

Associate Professor/ Senior Industrial Fellow

Fredrik Karpe

Professor of Metabolic Medicine

Rachel Kerr

Medical Oncologist

Tim Key

Professor of Epidemiology & Deputy Director, CEU

Rob Klose

Professor of Genetics

Nick La Thangue

Professor of Cancer Biology

Nick Lakin

Professor of Molecular Cell Biology

Alastair Lamb

Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist, SPACE Group Leader

Michael Lay

Head of Project Information Science

Simon Lord

Senior Clinical Researcher

Tim Maughan

Emeritues Professor of Clinical Oncology

Paul McGale

Medical Statistician

Adam Mead

Professor of Haematology

Parinaz Mehdipour

Leadership Fellow

Mark Middleton

Head, Department of Oncology

Kim Midwood

Professor of Matrix Biology

Ian Mills

John Black Professor of Prostate Cancer, Interim Head of Department, Group ...

Thomas Milne

Professor of Haematology

Ejung Moon

Group Leader in Radiation Biology and the Tumour Microenvironment

Claus Nerlov

Professor of Stem Cell Biology

Chris Norbury

Professor of Molecular Pathology

Bela Novak

Professor of Integrative Systems Biology

Eric O'Neill

Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology

Monica Olcina

Group Leader - Immune Radiation Biology

Udo Oppermann

Professor of Molecular Biology

Eileen Parkes

Associate Professor, Innate tumour immunology

Max Parkin

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Siim Pauklin

CRUK Career development fellow

Catherine Pears

Associate Professor

Andrea Pellagatti

University Research Lecturer

Rafael Perera

Director Medical Statistics and Director of Graduate Studies

Kristoffer Petersson

MRC Investigator & Group Leader - FLASH Radiation

Puneet Plaha

Associate Professor

Aurora Pérez-Cornago

Associate Professor and Senior Nutritional Epidemiologist

Kristijan Ramadan

Professor of Molecular Medicine

Michael Ranes

Wellcome Career Development Fellow

Peter Ratcliffe

Gill Reeves

Professor of Statistical Epidemiology and Director, CEU

Irene Roberts

Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Haematology

Anindita Roy

Professor of Paediatric Haematology

Angela Russell

Professor of Medicinal Chemistry

Anderson Ryan

Honorary Researcher

Tatjana Sauka-Spengler

Professor of Developmental Genomics and Gene Regulation

Elena Seiradake

Associate Professor & Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow

Len Seymour

Professor of Gene Therapies

Michael Sharpe

Emeritus Professor of Psychological Medicine

Nicola Sibson

Professor of Imaging Neuroscience

Christian Siebold

Professor of Structural Biology

Siân Sweetland

Senior Statistical Epidemiologist

Pawel Swietach

Professor of Physiology

Francis Szele

Associate Professor of Developmental Biology

Denis Talbot

Emeritus Professor of Cancer Medicine & Consultant in Medical Oncology

Madalena Tarsounas

Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology

Carolyn Taylor

Professor, Clinical Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant Oncologist

Nicola Ternette

Dr, PhD

Ian Tomlinson

Professor of Cancer Genetics

Helen Townley

Associate Professor

Ruth Travis

Professor of Epidemiology and Senior Molecular Epidemiologist

Katherine Vallis

Professor of Radiotherapeutics and Radioimaging

Anton van der Merwe

Lidia Vasilieva

Associate professor, group leader

Natalie Voets

Associate Professor

Boris Vojnovic

Professor of Biophysics

Paresh Vyas

Professor of Haematology

Matthew Whitby

Professor of Molecular Genetics

Robert Wilkins

Associate Professor of Epithelial Physiology

Suzannah Williams

Associate Professor & Senior Research Fellow

Clive Wilson

Professor of Cell and Developmental Genetics

Stuart Winter

Associate Professor

Matthew Wood

Professor of Neuroscience

Mark Woodward

Professor of Statistics and Epidemiology

Alison Woollard

Associate Professor

Lucy Wright

Senior Epidemiologist, Unit of Health Care Epidemiology

Ling Yang

Senior Epidemiologist

Owen Yang

Epidemiologist

Christoper Yau

Professor of Artificial Intelligence

Nicole Zitzmann

Professor of Virology & Director of Glycobiology Inst