Fiona Macdonald

Fiona is a graduate of Edinburgh University and carried out her PhD research at the University of Leicester. She subsequently moved to Birmingham as Barling Ratcliffe research fellow in surgery at Birmingham University with a specific interest in colorectal cancers. She has worked in the diagnostic molecular genetics laboratory in Birmingham since 1988.

Fiona initially established the DNA laboratory in the Regional Genetics Service at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and following the merger of the genetics laboratories in Birmingham in 1997 became head of the Molecular Genetics section of the Regional Genetics Laboratory at Birmingham Women’s Hospital (WMRGL).

The laboratory has a comprehensive and integrated approach to genetics using technologies from chromosome analysis to direct mutation detection by DNA/RNA sequencing; and applyies these to diverse clinical applications including reproductive medicine, prenatal diagnosis, developmental disorders, single gene disorders and rare diseases, familial cancer genes, molecular pathology and haemato-oncology genomics.

The WMRGL has recently been established as one of three technical hubs in the UK funded by CRUK to develop stratified medicine for a range of tumour types and has also been awarded two Technology Strategy Board grants in collaboration wit industrial partners to develop technologies for stratified medicine.

The department works closely with the University Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, University of Birmingham and as such Fiona holds an honorary senior lectureship within that department. Fiona is a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and is currently chair of the genetics examiners for the College.