Ruth Travis

Ruth Travis is a molecular epidemiologist, whose main research interests are the molecular and lifestyle determinants of common non-communicable diseases, particularly cancer. Her work involves combining the resources of established large cohort studies and international consortia with study designs that take advantage of new technology, both in terms of ‘omics’ and electronic data linkage.

She leads a programme of research on prostate cancer aetiology funded by Cancer Research UK, with a particular focus on risk factors for aggressive disease. A major research interest is the role of circulating biomarkers, including blood proteins, metabolites and hormones in cancer development. She leads a pan-cancer programme on proteomics and other molecular factors, exploiting large-scale biomarker and genetics datasets.

Ruth is Chair of the Prostate Cancer Working Group for the Europe-wide EPIC study, coordinates the Endogenous Hormones, Nutritional Biomarkers and Prostate Cancer Collaborative Group, which aims to conduct individual pooled analyses of the relationship between circulating biomarkers and prostate cancer risk from cohort studies from around the world, and leads prostate cancer epidemiological research in UK Biobank.

Ruth is a member of the EPIC and EPIC-Oxford Steering Committees and she represents EPIC as a member of the PRACTICAL international cancer genetics consortia. Ruth also leads research on the effects of shift work and circadian disruption on chronic conditions and diseases within the Million Women Study, EPIC-Oxford and UK Biobank cohorts.

Ruth studied Biological Anthropology (University of Cambridge, 1997-2000) and Epidemiology (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 2000-01), and holds DPhil in Cancer Epidemiology (University of Oxford, 2005).

She joined the Cancer Epidemiology Unit (CEU) in 2001.