Dr Rachel Horton

Rachel is training as a clinical geneticist and is spending some time doing dedicated clinical ethics research alongside her PhD.

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 joined the CPM in September 2023. She is currently a co-investigator on an NIHR Research for Patient Benefit funded project – iPREGCARE. This project is investigating the implications of a new personalised recurrence risk assessment for couples who have had a child with a serious genetic condition.

Ali has over ten years experience in patient advocacy and engagement in research and is a current EUPATI fellow. She is committed to both evidencing the experience of patients and families with personalised medicine and also effective public involvement and engagement with research. She is the co-lead of the Making it Personal engagement project – utilising theatre to spark conversations on what it is like to live with genetic risk.

Ali completed her doctorate at Nuffield College, Oxford and later gained an MSc in Genetic and Genomic Counselling from Cardiff University. She has worked at the University of Oxford since 2022 and previously as a research fellow at Northumbria University, King’s College London, and the University of Westminster and also held teaching positions at Lancaster University and the Open University.

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, 2018-25), 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.

Professor Anneke Lucassen

Anneke was appointed Director of the CPM in August 2021. Anneke trained in Medicine and specialised in Clinical Genetics. After a DPhil identifying genetic factors in diabetes, she set up an interdisciplinary research programme exploring the ethical, legal and social aspects of integrating advances in genetics (and other forms of big data) into healthcare and society. She is consultant in the Oxford Clinical Genetics Service.

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