Caroline Wright

Professor Caroline Wright FMedSci is Professor of Genomic Medicine at the University of Exeter Medical School, where she has worked since 2017. She leads the Translational Genomics research team within the Clinical and Biomedical Sciences department and serves as Academic Director for the Rare and Inherited Disease NHS Genomic Network of Excellence.

Her research focuses on interpreting rare genetic variants for diagnosing rare diseases, particularly severe developmental disorders in children. Key interests include improving diagnostic variant filtering pipelines, understanding penetrance of disease-causing variants in population settings, analyzing effects of rare variants on protein isoforms, and assessing ethical implications of new genetic technologies in screening programs.

• Departmental and NIHR Exeter BRC co-lead for Genetics & Genomics
• Co-leads Rare Variants and Genomics of Rare Disease research meetings
• Management committee member for UK Deciphering Developmental Disorders Study
• Active participant in ESHG conferences and UK Clinical Genetics Society meetings

Professor Wright's recent publications demonstrate expertise in scalable genomic analysis methods, convergence between rare and common genetic associations, and functional impacts of non-coding variants. Her work frequently leverages large-scale population cohorts including UK Biobank and All of Us.

• Wellcome Discovery Award (PI): PARADIGM project
• MRC project grant (PI): Newborn genome screening evaluation
• MRC project grant (co-I): Non-coding elements in diabetes across ancestries

Her educational background includes PhD, MSci, and MA in Natural Sciences from University of Cambridge, plus MA in Healthcare Ethics and Law from University of Manchester. Beyond academia, she's an active pianist/composer and outdoor enthusiast who regularly shares genomic medicine insights through professional networks.