Vicky Forster

Vicky Forster
Alma materNewcastle University Durham University
Known forPaediatric cancer
Scientific career
InstitutionsWomen's College Hospital, Toronto
ThesisAML1/ETO promotes a mutator phenotype in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukaemia (2012)

Victoria Jane (Vicky) Forster is an English cancer researcher and science communicator. As of 2022 she is Patient and Community Engagement Lead at Women's College Hospital in Toronto.[1][2]

Education

Forster grew up in Chelmsford, Essex. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia aged 7.[3] She became interested in scientific research whilst at hospital, and went on to study biomedical science at the Durham University.[3][4] She graduated from Durham University in 2008.[5] Forster completed a PhD at Newcastle University with James Allan and Olaf Heidenreich.[3][6] On the day she finished her PhD, she tweeted, Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and now I’ve got a PhD in cancer research, which became a viral post.[7][8]

Career

Forster used the media attention to praise where she worked, the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle upon Tyne.[7] Here she concentrated on leukemia caused by mutations in DNA.[7]

In 2014 Forster was a British Science Association Media Fellow.[9][10] That year, she spoke at TEDx Jesmond Dene about the legacy of Janet Rowley.[11] In 2015 she won the Communications and Brand Ambassador Prize from Cancer Research UK.[12] She appeared in the science communication project Soapbox Science.[13] Forster was a 2017 TED Global Fellow researching paediatric cancer.[14][15] Her TED talk, What can cancer survivors teach us about cancer treatment, was in Arusha, Tanzania.[16] She was listed in the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30[17] and was part of the BBC's 100 Women science week.[18] She has written for The Times, The Conversation, Forbes Health and The Guardian.[19][20][21][22] She is a member of the Society of The International Society of Paediatric Oncology.[23]

She completed her post-doc at The Hospital for Sick Children. Her research focussed on the rare genetic disorder biallelic mismatch repair deficiency.[24] She now works at Women's College Hospital, Toronto.[25]

References

  1. ^ ""Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and today I got my PhD in cancer research"". Cancer Research UK - Cancer News. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Cancer survivor Vicky Forster hopes to find a cure". BBC News. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Thunder, Jamie (30 June 2012). "Woman fights cancer as a patient - and then as a scientist". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and today I got my PhD in cancer research". Cancer Research UK - Science blog. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Victoria Forster". The Conversation. 7 June 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  6. ^ Jane, Forster, Victoria (2012). AML1/ETO promotes a mutator phenotype in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukaemia (Ph.D). University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b c "Dear Cancer - Dr Vicky Forster's story". futurefund.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Ex-patient heads cancer cure bid". BBC News. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Victoria Froster – Our_Futures". ourfutures.co. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Media Fellow alumni". British Science Association. 8 June 2021.
  11. ^ TEDx Talks (23 July 2014), Dissecting DNA to cure cancers - the legacy of Dr. Janet Rowley | Victoria Forster | TEDxJesmondDene, retrieved 27 March 2018
  12. ^ "Communications and Brand Ambassador Prize". Cancer Research UK. 29 October 2015.
  13. ^ Soapbox Science (29 June 2015), Dr Vicky Forster on being a Soapbox Scientist, retrieved 27 March 2018
  14. ^ "Get to know the extraordinary new class of TED Fellows". TED Fellows. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  15. ^ "Vicky Forster awarded TEDGlobal 2017 Fellowship". British Science Association. 24 May 2017.
  16. ^ TED Archive (27 February 2018), What can cancer survivors teach us about cancer treatment? | Victoria Forster, retrieved 26 March 2018
  17. ^ "Victoria Forster". Forbes. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  18. ^ "Child cancer survivor fights for better treatment". BBC News. 10 November 2017.
  19. ^ Forster, Victoria. "Victoria Forster". Forbes. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  20. ^ Forster, Vicky (30 August 2014). "Childhood cancer survivors face risk of early death". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  21. ^ "Victoria Forster". The Conversation. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  22. ^ Forster, Victoria (4 July 2016). "Why Brexit is bad news for cancer research". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  23. ^ "Who is behind the Blog?". The International Society of Paediatric Oncology. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  24. ^ Children, The Hospital for Sick. "Profile of Victoria Forster". www.sickkids.ca. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  25. ^ "New job at Women's College Hospital in Toronto". Dr Victoria Forster. 18 July 2022.