Professor Dame Kay Davies

Professor Dame Kay Davies is the Dr Lee’s Professor of Anatomy Emeritus and co-Director of the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. She is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville, Wolfson and Hertford. She received a BA degree in Chemistry (Somerville College) and a graduate PhD degree in Biochemistry (Wolfson College) from the University of Oxford. She was appointed Professor of Genetics in 1996 and Dr Lee’s Professor of Anatomy and Fellow of Hertford College in 1998. She was founding Director of the MRC Functional Genomics Unit 1999–2017 and co-founded the Oxford Centre of Gene Function in 2000, a new institute going from genetic association in human disease to function in the whole organism.

Kay’s research interests lie in the molecular analysis and development of treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). She has published more than 400 papers and won numerous awards for her work and co-founded companies to translate her work to the clinic. Kay is a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society, UK. She was appointed Governor of the Wellcome Trust in 2008 and became Deputy Chair 2013–17. She was made Dame Commander of the British Empire for services to science in 2008.