Li Ka Shing Professor of Oncology and Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, UK

Sir Bruce Ponder trained in Internal Medicine at Cambridge, St. Thomas’ Hospital and in Oncology at ICRF and Harvard, his research has been in developmental biology and subsequently in cancer genetics.

He initiated one of the first familial cancer clinics in the UK and his group identified ret as the predisposing gene for MEN 2 syndrome and established clinical guidelines for the management of this syndrome. They were also closely involved in research that led to the identification of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes for breast and ovarian cancer and in the clinical management of cancer families. Most recently they led the first genome-wide association study to identify common predisposing genes for breast cancer.

Professor Ponder has also led the development of a new cancer research centre in Cambridge over the past ten years, culminating in his appointment as the first Director of the new Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, which opened in 2007. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2008 New Year Honours List for services to medicine.