1. Anne Ferguson-Smith is the Executive Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics and former Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and International Partnerships at the University of Cambridge.
Anne Ferguson-Smith's work has uncovered epigenetically regulated processes in development and over the life course, and identified key in vivo mechanisms involved in the maintenance of epigenetic states.
Anne Ferguson-Smith explores communication between the environment and the genome with implications for health, disease and inheritance.
Anne Carla Ferguson-Smith was born on 23 July 1961 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Anne Ferguson-Smith was educated at the University of Glasgow where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology.
Anne Ferguson-Smith moved to the biology department at Yale University to undertake a PhD identifying human Hox genes and characterising mammalian Hox clusters, supervised by Frank Ruddle.
Anne Ferguson-Smith conducted postdoctoral research with Azim Surani at the University of Cambridge from 1989 to 1994, where she initiated molecular studies on genomic imprinting - the process causing genes to be expressed according to their parental origin.
Anne Ferguson-Smith's research continues to forge links between DNA sequence, epigenetic modifications and gene regulation, and their impact on phenotype; and the mechanisms and implications of epigenetic inheritance.
Anne Ferguson-Smith was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2002, was awarded EMBO Membership in 2006 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017 She won the Suffrage Science award in 2014 and was awarded the Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society in 2021.
Anne Ferguson-Smith was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to medical research.
Anne Ferguson-Smith is an executive chair of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Anne Ferguson-Smith married Mark Gregory McHarg in 1988, with whom she has a son and a daughter.
Anne Ferguson-Smith is the daughter of Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, a geneticist.