Valerie Beral

University of Oxford, UK

Valerie Beral Picture Valerie Beral is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Oxford and Director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit. She is principal investigator in the Million Women Study, one of the world’s largest ever epidemiological studies, which is investigating how various reproductive and lifestyle factors affect women's health. One focus of her work at present is on the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on cancer.

She also leads several international collaborations, bringing together the worldwide evidence on the effects of hormones and many other factors on the risk of women developing cancers of the breast, ovary, cervix and endometrium. The collaborations have published on the effects of factors such as HRT, contraceptive pills, alcohol and smoking.

Valerie Beral graduated in medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal College of Physicians and an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She has been the chair of the Department of Health’s independent Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer Screening for six years.