Portrait of Valerie Beral

Full length portrait of Dame Valerie Beral at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford.

Dame Valerie Beral, epidemiologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006. She studies the role of hormonal, reproductive and infectious agents in cancer and her work has helped to identify a number of causes of cancer, along with indicating the existence of the viral causes behind cervical cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma.

In addition, Valerie is the principal investigator behind the Million Women Study, which is examining how various lifestyle and reproductive factors affect women’s health, with a particular focus on the impact of hormone replacement therapy on the risk of developing breast cancer.

Valerie has received many accolades in recognition of her work, including the Donald Reid Medal of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2006, and the Rosalind E. Franklin Award of the US National Cancer Institute in 2014. In 2010, she was named both a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, as well as a Companion of the Order of Australia.