History

Dr Nick Orr 

Dr Nick Orr obtained his BSc in Molecular Biology and PhD in Haematology and Genetics at the Queen’s University of Belfast. He then spent a year as a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Anne Hughes working on the genetic epidemiology of age related macular degeneration. In 2005, he moved to the US National Cancer Institute to continue training in genetic epidemiology in the laboratory of Dr Stephen Chanock, where he worked on genome-wide scans for genetic risk factors of prostate and breast cancer. Dr Orr was appointed as a staff scientist at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre in June 2008.

Dr Olivia Fletcher

After obtaining a BA in Biochemistry from Oxford University, Dr Olivia Fletcher moved to the National Institute of Medical Research, London to do her PhD working on regulation of gene expression. While working as a post-doctoral researcher at Imperial College London she became interested in the genetics of complex traits, an interest that led her to take an MSc in Medical Statistics at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. After completing her MSc, Olivia took up a position as a lecturer at LSHTM working on the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer. In 2005 Olivia moved to the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre to continue this work and to pursue her interest in the identification and characterization of genetic variants that affect levels of gene expression.

Olivia and Nick now jointly head up a team of genetic epidemiologists working together on the Breakthrough Generations Study, the British Breast Cancer Study and other population-based studies within the Breakthrough Centre.