Alison Dunning

Professor Alison Dunning serves as Professor of Cancer Genetic & Applied Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge's Centre For Cancer Genetic Epidemiology (CCGE), where she leads wet-lab operations and contributes to major international consortia including BCAC and CIMBA. Appointed to her professorship in 2022 after becoming Reader in 2016, she concurrently acts as University Disability and Wellbeing Champion and Co-Chair of the Disabled Staff Network.

Her research focuses on cancer genetic epidemiology, particularly fine-scale mapping of breast cancer risk loci, genetic modifiers of BRCA-related cancer risks, and radiotherapy toxicity mechanisms. She directs high-throughput genotyping for consortia studying polygenic risk scores across diverse populations, mammographic density genetics, and radiation-induced normal tissue complications. Her work bridges wet-lab sample management with statistical genetics to translate findings into clinical risk prediction.

Analysis of her 2023-2025 publications reveals dominant themes in cross-ancestry polygenic risk score development and genetic determinants of radiotherapy toxicity, with significant contributions to prostate cancer dose-response modeling and BRCA variant classification. These studies frequently employ large-scale GWAS and international cohort collaborations to address clinical implementation challenges.

As Director of Graduate Studies for the Oncology Department (2019-2024) and current formal supervisor for CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre MRes students, she mentors early-career researchers while teaching on the University's Certificate in Genetics program until 2022. Her advocacy focuses on disability inclusion and combating workplace bullying through epidemiological frameworks that promote belonging in academia.

Dunning manages the CCGE's wet-lab team responsible for biological sample curation and genotyping across consortia including Confluence, BRIDGES, and EMBED. Her leadership extends to patient engagement in the Early Detection program, where she supports patient representatives while overseeing sample collection for ctDNA analysis and related studies.