Professor Douglas F. Easton is a preeminent leader in the field of genetic epidemiology and cancer research at the University of Cambridge. He currently serves as Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology at Cambridge, where he has established himself as a global authority on the genetic basis of cancer susceptibility. After completing his studies in Mathematical and Statistics at the University of Cambridge, he earned his PhD in Genetic Epidemiology from the University of London in 1992. In 1995, he founded Cambridge's Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit, which has since become a world-leading center in cancer genetics research, and he has maintained a distinguished career spanning nearly three decades at one of the world's most prestigious academic institutions.
Professor Easton's groundbreaking research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of the genetic architecture of cancer, particularly breast cancer. In 2007, he led a landmark study of nearly 50,000 women that identified four genes associated with breast cancer risk, with the FGFR2 gene showing the strongest association where women with two copies of the high-risk allele faced a 60% increased risk. This work was heralded by New Scientist as the most significant advance in breast cancer genetics since the discovery of BRCA1 and BRCA2. His research has characterized critical cancer predisposition genes including BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM and CHEK2, and has led to the identification of hundreds of common cancer predisposition variants in the non-coding genome, transforming our understanding of polygenic risk in cancer development.
Beyond his research contributions, Professor Easton has been instrumental in shaping the global landscape of cancer genetic epidemiology through leadership of major international consortia. He was a founding member of the International Breast Cancer Linkage Consortium in the late 1980s, which established a model for international collaboration in cancer genetics research. His co-development of the BOADICEA risk prediction model is now used worldwide to guide genetic counseling and cancer prevention strategies. As a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, he continues to advance the field through innovative studies on genetic risk scores and the complex interplay between genetic variants and environmental factors in determining cancer susceptibility, maintaining his position at the forefront of translational cancer genetics research.
