Professor Alan Ashworth

Chief Executive , The Institute of Cancer Research

Professor Alan Ashworth FRS, is Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He is also Professor of Molecular Biology and Leader of the Gene Function team in The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The ICR. The Centre contains around 120 scientists and researchers working on aspects of breast cancer ranging from basic molecular and cellular biology through to translational research and clinical trials.

Professor Ashworth contributed to the discovery of the BRCA2 gene in 1995 and ten years later, Prof. Ashworth’s team identified the synthetic lethal relationship between BRCA mutations and PARP inhibitors. The exquisite sensitivity of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutant cells to PARP inhibitors forms the rationale behind clinical trials that are now assessing the potential of these agents. Ashworth’s other research interests are wide ranging and include high-throughput genomic and functional approaches to the study of cancer.

Professor Ashworth is an elected member of EMBO and the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his contributions to mammalian genetics and the developments of new therapeutic approaches for cancer. He received the European Society of Medical Oncology Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2009 and the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation’s David T. Workman Memorial Award in May 2010.