Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans is an Emeritus Professor of Medical Genetics and Cancer Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, and was a Consultant in Medical Genetics and Cancer Epidemiology with Manchester University Hospitals and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. He is an international leader in cancer genetics, with a particular interest in neurofibromatosis and breast cancer. His research has led him to conclude that risk stratification offers the best way of targeting prevention and early detection approaches.

He has undertaken landmark genetic epidemiological research and developed algorithms to determine personalised cancer risks, leading to services and policies that widened access to testing and preventive treatments, which have saved hundreds of lives and informed thousands of women about their BRCA gene risks.

He developed a comprehensive NHS clinical cancer genetic service in Manchester, which became a widely recognised exemplar and a model adopted by other UK regions, as well as a national training programme for clinicians, nurses and genetic counsellors in breast cancer genetics. He has raised over £55 million in grants for multicentre and local studies, approximately £45 million of which went to Manchester. He has been Chief Investigator on two NIHR programme grants (£1.59 million and £1 million) for breast cancer risk prediction, running from 2009 to 2014 and 2016 to 2022. He led a successful bid for a nationally funded NF2 service (£7.5 million per year) that started in 2010, and is involved in the national complex NF1 service. He is theme lead and cancer lead on the All Manchester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, worth £28.5 million (2016–2020).