Nazneen Rahman
Nazneen Rahman is a geneticist who studies how genes influence cancer. She trained in medicine at Oxford (1991) and earned a PhD in 1999 on the Wilms’ tumor gene FWT1. She led the Genetics and Epidemiology team at the Institute of Cancer Research and worked at the Royal Marsden and St George’s Hospital, focusing on breast cancer, childhood cancer, and growth disorders.
In 2018 Rahman resigned after an independent investigation found evidence of bullying and a toxic workplace culture, a decision that also led to the loss of a £3.5 million grant from the Wellcome Trust. The case was seen as a landmark moment for accountability in UK scientific funding. Since then, she has worked as a non-executive director at AstraZeneca, chairs the Science and Sustainability committees, and directs the Sustainable Medicine Partnership.
Rahman was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2010 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2016 for services to medical science. Her research has helped identify several cancer predisposition genes and improve screening and treatment for NHS patients. She is also a singer-songwriter with two albums and an EP, and was a finalist in the UK Songwriting Competition in 2019. She blogs about her work at Harvesting the Genome.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:42 (CET).