Irene Leigh

Irene Leigh was born and educated in Liverpool. She obtained her undergraduate medical training and intercalated BSc (Hons) in Anatomy at the London Hospital Medical College and specialised in dermatology at postgraduate level. She spent two years as a lecturer in medicine at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, before returning to registrar and senior registrar positions in London. In 1983, she was appointed as Consultant Dermatologist to the London Hospital. She was attached as a research fellow to the ICRF (now the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute) and established a research laboratory at the London Hospital in 1983. She became Professor of Dermatology in 1992, having completed an MD degree. Her laboratory, the Cancer Research UK Skin Tumour Laboratory, is part of the Centre for Cutaneous Research (Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry), which she leads. In 1999 she became Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and obtained a DSc. She is currently Joint Research Director of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry/NHS Trust.