I would love to be the Vice President of UKEMS, as the UKEMS society means a lot to me, from when I joined as a PhD student in 1991 I felt included and encouraged by UKEMS members and ultimately lucky to have had the chances I have had and the career it has led to. In leading the society I would want to ensure others get these chances as well. I have served on UKEMS committee as IGG chair and then as Ordinary Member since 2011. The Society has been instrumental in bringing together researchers and industrial scientists across a broad genetic toxicology interests, and particularly for encouraging and growing the next generations on genetic toxicologists, as it did for me. 

I started my career in genetic toxicology in 1991 as PhD student with Dr Elizabeth Parry at Swansea University, following a degree in Genetics at Swansea. I spent a few years in academia at Leicester as postdoc and then as Research Fellow in Bristol University until joining the Genetic toxicology team at AstraZeneca in 2002. 

I am really lucky to love the role I have, my current role in AstraZeneca is as Head of Safety Innovation Department includes the Genetic Toxicology group as well as 8 other Safety teams. I led the Genetic Toxicology team from 2012 to 2019. Over all of the years in genetic toxicology I have seen many changes but I genuinely believe we are on the cusp, of a step change in the way we apply genetic toxicology. Many of our assays are 50 yrs old, and have served us well in hazard Identification. However, the combination of humanised advanced cell models and error corrected sequencing, is transforming genetic toxicology and allowing us to move from hazard ID to true risk assessment. It’s an exciting time to be in the genetic  toxicology world and I would like to contribute and guide the society with all of its individual specialised interest groups and its many students and early career scientists for a time, in an inclusive and dynamic way.