Cancer Research UK features heavily in The Times’ “Top 100”

Our CEO Harpal Kumar is one of the Top 100 people in UK science

Today, The Times published a list of the 100 most influential people in British science (which you can see here if you have a subscription), and several people associated closely with Cancer Research UK featured prominently – none more so than Professor Sir Paul Nurse, who heads the list.

Sir Paul shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2001 for his work on cell cycle regulation, (of which more in a forthcoming post), and was Director General of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which merged with the Cancer Research Campaign in 2002 to become Cancer Research UK.

Sir Paul will become Chief Executive of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI) in January 2011, and we’re one of the major partners in this groundbreaking medical research centre. Sir Paul has also been named as the next President of the Royal Society.

Sir Tim Hunt is listed at number 36.  Sir Tim shared the 2001 Nobel Prize for Medicine alongside Paul Nurse and works at our Clare Hall labs as Head of the Cell Cycle Control Laboratory. Dr Hunt is one of the world’s leading experts on the control of the cell cycle – the process by which all cells multiply – and he has made many important discoveries in this area.

Professor Mike Stratton comes in at number 37. With Cancer Research UK funding, Professor Stratton’s team led the world in discovering the BRCA2 ‘breast cancer gene’ in the 1990s, and we’re currently funding him to research testicular cancer genetics.  As well as heading the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute,  he is Professor of Cancer Genetics at the Institute of Cancer Research.

Also on the list is our Chief Executive, Harpal Kumar, at number 59. Harpal has been our CEO since April 2007, having previously been CEO of Cancer Research Technology, a company we run which works with researchers to identify, develop, evaluate and protect new cancer discoveries and inventions.

The Times list also includes several of our Trustees and Members, including Dr Philip Campbell, Sir John Bell, Dame Sally Davies, Sir Mike Richards and Sir Leszek Borysiewicz.

Cancer Research UK is governed by an unpaid Council of Trustees, who set the charity’s strategic direction and guide, advise and support our Chief Executive. Our Council is elected from our 93 Members, experts from many different disciplines from business and the arts, to politics, finance and health care.

Naturally, we’re delighted that so many people linked to Cancer Research UK have been recognised on the list.

Jon