Dr Emilie Wigdor

Emilie is one of the CPM’s Junior Research Fellows. Her research focuses on the genetics and functional genomics of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. In the Sanders Group at the Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine (IDRM), her main projects are BrainVar and BrainNet. These studies use whole genome sequencing and single-cell multi-omic approaches to analyze gene expression across the span of human cerebral cortical development, and to dissect the autism transcriptome.

Prior to joining the Sanders Group at the IDRM and Department of Paediatrics, Emilie completed her PhD in genomics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge. There, she investigated the role of common variation and spliceosome variants in rare disorders, with a focus on undiagnosed neurodevelopment disorders. 

Before her PhD, Emilie trained as an associate computational biologist at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute, where she worked on the genetic epidemiology of autism, particularly on sex-bias. 

Emilie completed her undergraduate in 2015 in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology at Harvard University.

Sally Sansom

Sally is a Junior Research Fellow within the Centre for Personalised Medicine and a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) candidate within the Health Economics Research Centre (HERC) at the University of Oxford. Prior to commencing her DPhil, Sally worked for eight-years in roles spanning health economics and strategy consulting, and medical research / clinical trial project management. Sally also holds a Bachelor of Biomedicine (genetics major) from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Public Health (health economics specialism) from Monash University in Australia.

Sally is passionate about progressing the health economics evidence base required to support the cost-effective translation of genomic diagnostic and therapeutic technologies into routine care. In particular, Sally’s research interests lie in improving our understanding of how best to measure the outcomes from genome sequencing for rare disease diagnosis in economic evaluations. Sally is also interested in exploring the spill-over effects of genomic information within families.

More information about Sally’s research can be found here.

Dr Rachel Horton

Rachel joined CELS in June 2018 to do a PhD. She has nearly completed her training as a clinical geneticist and is spending some time doing dedicated clinical ethics research.

Rachel’s research, funded by a Wellcome Trust Research Award for Health Professionals in Humanities and Social Sciences, explores what we should consider to be a genomic result. Genomic testing identifies the millions of variations that each of us has within our genetic code, and Rachel is interested in how and why decisions are made as to which of these variations should be considered the ‘result’ of a genomic test.

Rachel studied medicine at Oxford, doing an intercalated BA in Molecular Medicine in 2008. She worked as a junior doctor in the Severn deanery before moving to Southampton in 2015 to train in clinical genetics. She completed an MSc in Genomic Medicine at the University of Southampton in 2018.

Dr Ali Kay

Ali Kay is a CPM Junior Research Fellow. She is a multi-disciplinary researcher investigating perspectives and experiences of genetic and genomic testing, risk assessment and genetic therapies. 

Current and recent projects:

• ePREGCARE – genomic recurrence risk assessment strategy for couples after a child is diagnosed with a genetic condition caused by a de novo (new) genetic variant
• Adoptees and Direct-to-Consumer testing

She is an Elected Fellow, Royal Historical Society, and graduate member of Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors (AGNC) and British Psychological Society (BPS).

Dr Susie Weller

Susie Weller is a CPM Research Fellow. Her current work forms part of the ‘Ethical Preparedness in Genomic Medicine’ study (Wellcome Trust, 2018-24), which combines conceptual, empirical, and theoretical work to examine the ethical and social challenges that arise for those living and working with genetic and genomic results. Susie draws on a range of conceptual tools from family and lifecourse sociology and employs qualitative longitudinal research approaches to explore, over time, interactions between individuals, those within their networks, and the wider social processes and structures shaping their experiences. She is particularly interested in: how patients and families navigate different routes through genomic medicine; the resources and support on which they draw to manage the process; how participants conceive of their data journey; and how caring relationships, identities and practices evolve over time.

Dr Sarah Briggs

Sarah Briggs is one of the CPM’s Junior Research Fellows in Medical Sciences. Her DPhil research, funded by the Medical Research Council, evaluated the use of polygenic risk scores in predicting bowel cancer risk. Sarah’s ongoing research interests include assessing the environmental impact of the genomic technologies increasingly employed to personalise healthcare. She studied medicine at the University of Oxford, and is a clinician, training in Medical Oncology in Oxford.

Catherine Lidbetter

Catherine is responsible for the operational running and day-to-day development of the Centre for Personalised Medicine. She liaises with the administrative, development, communications, finance and publicity offices at St Anne’s College, and with the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, the Medical Sciences Division and more broadly across other University of Oxford departments. Catherine manages the CPM website and co-organises the CPM’s events.

Catherine’s background is in Librarianship. She worked as a subject librarian at Oxford Brookes University for over a decade and at the University of Reading prior to that. Her first degree is in Music.

Thea Perry

Thea joined the CPM in 2015, and has enjoyed working on a huge variety of events during this time. Day-to-day she organises the CPM’s events, and runs the CPM website and social media accounts.

Thea has a degree in Events Management and previously worked as a PA.

Professor Anneke Lucassen

Anneke was appointed Director of the CPM in August 2021. She is delighted to return to Oxford, and the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, after 2 decades as Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton. She also holds an honorary consultant physician post, now at the Oxford regional genetics service. Her research focuses on the ethical and legal aspects of developments in genetics and genomics.

Much more information on Anneke’s research can be found here.