Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and InternationalPartnerships at the University of Cambridge. She is the Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics (since2015). Formerly, she was the University’s Head of the Department of Genetics until December 2020.She became the President of the Genetics Society in 2021, and is a member of the UKRI BBSRC Council.

Professor Ferguson-Smith is a mammalian developmental geneticist and epigeneticist. An expert ongenomic imprinting, her team studies the epigenetic control of genome function with particularemphasis on epigenetic inheritance. Her group is made up of both experimental and computationalscientists and current research focuses on three themes: (i) stem cells and the epigeneticprogramme, (ii) functional genomics and epigenomics, and (iii) the interaction between theenvironment and development, health and disease within and across generations.

Professor Ferguson-Smith was elected to EMBO in 2006, to the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Society of Biologyin 2012, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017. In 2014 she was as awarded the Womenin Science Heirloom Award for contributions to life sciences, In 2019 she was awarded the FeldbergPrize and in 2021 the Buchanan Medal and the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, Anne McLarenDistinguished Scientist Award. Professor Ferguson-Smith became Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in2021 and was appointed to the Research and International Partnerships role in 2022. She is a Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge.