About Us

Dr Caroline Wright – Head of Science

As Head of Science Caroline Wright works on many of our major projects and is also a regular contributor to our news page. She has expertise in the fields of genetics and molecular biology, and keeps up-to-date with scientific developments that are relevant to medicine and public health.

Caroline was trained as a scientist, with Masters degrees in natural sciences and chemistry and a PhD in biological chemistry from the University of Cambridge. She joined us in mid-2007, following a few years working as a research analyst within the medical devices and biotechnology industries.

Since then, Caroline has focused primarily on two of our flagship projects on genetic test evaluation and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis; co-authoring our reports Evaluation of Diagnostic Tests, which summarises the findings of PHG’s Diagnostic Summit, and Cell-free fetal nucleic acids for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. In 2008, Cambridge Triple Helix Society invited her as speaker and panelist for their debate ‘Hands Off My Genes!’. Her current work includes the evaluation of disease risk models based on multiple conventional and genetic biomarkers, and the regulation of direct-to-consumer genetic tests.

Selected recent publications:

• Wright CF Cell-free fetal nucleic acids for non-invasive prenatal diagnostics: Report of the UK expert working group
• Furness P, Zimmern R, Wright C, Adams M The evaluation of diagnostic tests and complex biomarkers: Summary of a Diagnostic Summit (2009)
• Wright CF & Burton H. The use of cell-free fetal nucleic acids in maternal blood for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis Human Reproduction Update (2009) 15(1): 139-151
• Wright CF, Teichmann S, Clarke J & Dobson CM. The importance of sequence diversity in the aggregation and evolution of proteins Nature (2005) 438(8): 878-881

Please visit PHG Foundation’s resources page for a list of our publications and other work by members of our staff.