Anne Ferguson-Smith

Anne Carla Ferguson-Smith (born 23 July 1961) is a mammalian developmental geneticist. She is the executive chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics and former pro-vice chancellor for Research and International Partnerships at the University of Cambridge. Formerly head of the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge, she is a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge and serves as president of the Genetics Society.

Ferguson-Smith is an authority on genomic imprinting and the epigenetic control of genome function in health and disease, and is recognised for her work on parental-origin effects and epigenetic mechanisms. Her work has uncovered epigenetically regulated processes in development and over the life course, and identified key in vivo mechanisms involved in the maintenance of epigenetic states. She also explores communication between the environment and the genome with implications for health, disease and inheritance.