Read press release Our research into cancer prevention and causes
Around 50 years ago, one of our best known scientists, Professor Sir Richard Doll, was the first to show that smoking led directly to lung cancer. Today, smoking is known to be the single biggest cause of cancer in the world, and accounts for one in four UK cancer deaths.
The harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke increase the risk of more than a dozen types of cancer. You can read more about the links between smoking and cancer on our Healthy Living pages. Our researchers continue to investigate exactly how these chemicals damage cells throughout the body and contribute to the development of this disease.
One of Cancer Research UK’s aspirational goals for 2020 is that ‘The number of smokers will fall dramatically’. Importantly, our scientific experts in this field are striving to find effective new ways to help people successfully quit smoking. This work has the potential to save many thousands of lives in the future.
Below are some of the highlights of our smoking research portfolio.
Researcher listing
Valerie Beral
Cancer Epidemiology Unit
Jillian Birch
Looking for the causes of childhood cancer
Paediatric & Familial Cancer Research Group
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
Jack Cuzick
Cancer prevention and screening
Centre for Cancer Prevention
Queen Mary, University of London
Farhat Din
Understanding how aspirin reduces bowel cancer risk
Colon Cancer Genetics Group
University of Edinburgh
Malcolm Dunlop
The genetic causes of bowel cancer
Molecular & Clinical Medicine
University of Edinburgh
Gerard Hastings
Stirling Management School
University of Stirling
Julia Newton-Bishop
Finding skin cancer genes
Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine
University of Leeds
Chris Paraskeva
Preventing and treating bowel cancer
Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Warwick
Richard Peto
Studying smoking and cancer, and improving clinical trials
Clinical Trial Service Unit
University of Oxford
Paul Pharoah
Genetic variation and cancer risk
University of Dundee
Nazneen Rahman
Searching for genes in breast and childhood cancers
Division of Genetics and Epidemiology
Institute of Cancer Research
Alan Rickinson
Understanding viruses that cause cancer
Cancer Studies
University of Birmingham
Jane Wardle
Health behaviour and cancer risk
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Birmingham
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