Dr. Chantal Babb de Villiers uses her expertise in genetics, healthcare, diagnostics, and epidemiology to contribute to many PHG Foundation projects including polygenic scores and technology horizon-scanning. Her interests are in cancer, epidemiology, health disparities, genomics, public health, and global health.
Chantal’s previous work experience ranges across cancer diagnostics, cancer registries and breast cancer risk stratification. She has a PhD from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, and a MSc in Medical Genetics from the University of Glasgow.
Key skills are:
- Genomic policy development
- Cancer epidemiology research
- Scientific knowledge translation
- Clinical utility evaluation
- Healthcare data management
- Precision health in a changing climate
- Host genomics: lessons for infectious disease
- Heat, health and human genetics
- Evaluation of polygenic score applications
- Polygenic scores for cancer
- Implementing polygenic scores for cardiovascular disease into NHS Health Checks
- Polygenic scores and clinical utility
- Personalising breast cancer prevention – bridging the gap between research and policy
- Polygenic scores, risk and cardiovascular disease
- Personalising prevention for breast cancer
- The polygenic score paradox: navigating the hope, hype, and hurdles
- Data: the catalyst for health and climate change action
- Pioneering change: how pharmacogenomics is shaping healthcare
- World’s first gene editing therapy now in the UK for sickle cell disease
- Viral Genetic Surveillance, the canary in the coal mine for emerging diseases – a look at avian flu
- A much needed call to action – the launch of the Global Heat Health Resilience statement
- Biomarkers and their clinical utility in prevention
- Viruses for good – the case for phages
- Examining whether viruses can combat antimicrobial resistance
- Cancer, screening, and polygenic scores
- Bringing diversity to the reference genome
- Bringing order to polygenic score reporting
- Pathogen genomics initiative to boost disease control in Africa
- Breast cancer screening – debate continues
- Diversity, genomics and global health
- Babb de Villiers C, Plans-Beriso E, Erady C, Blackburn L, Wilson H, Turner H, Kuhn I, Barahona-López C, Diez-Echave P, Hernández OR, et al. Biomarkers for Personalised Primary or Secondary Prevention in Cardiovascular Diseases: A Rapid Scoping Review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2025; 26(19):9346.
- Biomarkers for personalised prevention of chronic diseases: a common protocol for three rapid scoping reviews. Syst Rev 13, 147 (2024). Plans-Beriso, E., Babb de Villiers, C., Petrova, D. Turner, H., Blackburn, L. et al. https://doi.org/10.1186/
s13643-024-02554-9 - A genomic perspective on climate change. EBioMedicine 98:104871. 2023. Forzano, F., Babb de Villiers C., Farley M., Fowler H., Taylor R.W. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104871
- Towards implementation of comprehensive breast cancer risk prediction tools in health care for personalised prevention
Moorthie S, Babb de Villiers C, Burton H, Kroese M, Antoniou A.C., Bhattacharjee P, Garcia-Closas M, Hall P, Schmidt M.K.. Preventive Medicine, Vol 159. 6 May 2022. - How can we address the uncertainties regarding the potential clinical utility of polygenic score-based tests?
Moorthie S, Hall A, Babb de Villiers C, Janus J, Brigden T, Blackburn L, Kroese M. Future Medicine. 15 March 2022. - Understanding polygenic models, their development and the potential application of polygenic scores in healthcare
Babb de Villiers C, Kroese M, Moorthie S. Journal of Medical Genetics Online First. 6 May 2020.
