Professor Irene Leigh is the latest top-line scientist to be attracted to Dundee, bringing her own special area of expertise. Born and educated in Liverpool, and trained in London and Tanzania, she became Professor of Dermatology in London in 1992 and in 1999, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. Before coming to Dundee as Vice Principal, and Head of College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, she was Research Dean and Joint Research Director at Barts and the London Schoool of Medicine and Dentistry / NHS Trust.

In 1984 she established what became the Cancer Research UK Skin Cancer Research Laboratory in London. It grew to be the Centre for Cutaneous Research where more than 8 people researched many apsects of the cell and molecular biology of non-melanoma skin cancer as well as genetic disease, stem cells, and urogenital cancers. These are all areas of great importance to the development of personalised medicine.

Professor Bob Steele received his medical training at the University of Edinburgh (BSc in Physiology 1974, MB ChB 1977, MD 1983, and FRCS 1984). He was Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Aberdeen between 1986 and 1990.In 1990 he moved to the University of Nottingham to be Senior Lecturer in Surgery, remaining in post until 1995, when he was appointed Reader. In 1996, he came to Dundee as Professor of Surgery and Molecular Oncology. Among his areas of reserach is the Scottish Bowel Screening programme whose aim is to screen all people in Tayside, Fife and Grampian between the ages of 50 and 69. This programme is rolling out now over the whole of Scotland over a five year period.

Professor Roland Wolf is Director of the Biomedical Research Centre at Ninewells. He has an international reputation for his work in the field of molecular pharmacology, specifically drug resistance in cancer patients.

After working in Germany, the USA and England, he headed  the Imperial Cancer Research Fund’s Medical Oncology Unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

In 1992 Professor Wolf located his molecular pharmacology group to Dundee. Much of his research centres on factors which limit effectiveness of drugs, the interplay of genes, and the environment.

He has published over 380 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals on drug metbolism, toxicoogy, drug development and pharmacogenetics.