Maria Kakkoura

Maria Kakkoura is a Nutritional Epidemiologist, who joined the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) in 2019. Her current research examines the relationship between diet and risk of non-communicable diseases, using data from the large prospective cohort study of the China Kadoorie Biobank.

Maria’s research focuses on assessing the associations of animal sourced foods with disease risk and on investigating the mechanisms underlying those associations with the use of biomarker data. This work forms part of the Wellcome Trust funded Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) project.  

Prior to joining CTSU, Maria worked as a researcher at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus. Her research examined the effects of extreme environmental stressors such as heat and desert dust storm events on health.

Maria also received her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, for which she investigated the interactions between single nucleotide polymorphisms and Mediterranean diet on breast cancer risk and on selected metabolites.

She also holds a BSc in Human Genetics (University College London) and an MSc in Environmental Health (Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health of the Cyprus University of Technology).