Victoria Jane (Vicky) Forster is an English cancer researcher and science communicator. As of 2022 she is Patient and Community Engagement Lead at

Women's College Hospital Women's College Hospital is a teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in downtown Toronto at the north end of Hospital Row, a section of University Avenue where several major hospitals are located. It currently functions ...

in Toronto.

Education

Forster grew up in Chelmsford, Essex. She was diagnosed with

acute lymphoblastic leukemia Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the Lymphocyte, lymphoid line of blood cells characterized by the development of large numbers of lymphoblast, immature lymphocytes. Symptoms may include feeling tired, pale skin color, fever, ...

aged 7. She became interested in scientific research whilst at hospital, and went on to study

biomedical science Biomedical sciences are a set of sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, or both, to develop knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbi ...

at the

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. She graduated from

in 2008. Forster completed a PhD at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

with James Allan and Olaf Heidenreich. On the day she finished her PhD, she

tweeted A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around ...

, ''Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and now I’ve got a PhD in cancer research'', which became a

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

post.

Career

Forster used the media attention to praise where she worked, the Northern Institute for

Cancer Research Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate ...

, Newcastle upon Tyne. Here she concentrated on

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

caused by mutations in DNA. In 2014 Forster was a

British Science Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

Media Fellow. That year, she spoke at

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

Jesmond Dene Jesmond Dene, a public park in the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, occupies the narrow steep-sided valley of a small river known as the Ouseburn, flowing south to join the River Tyne. In north-east England, such valleys are commonly ...

about the legacy of

Janet Rowley Janet Davison Rowley (April 5, 1925 – December 17, 2013) was an American human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers, thus proving that cancer is a genetic disease. ...

. In 2015 she won the Communications and Brand Ambassador Prize from

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

. She appeared in the science communication project Soapbox Science. Forster was a 2017 TED Global Fellow researching paediatric cancer. Her TED talk, ''What can cancer survivors teach us about cancer treatment'', was in

Arusha Arusha is a city in Tanzania. The city is the Capital city, capital of the Arusha Region. It has a population of 617,631 people.

, Tanzania. She was listed in the 2017

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

and was part of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's 100 Women science week. She has written for The Times, The Conversation, Forbes Health and The Guardian. She is a member of the Society of The International Society of Paediatric Oncology. She completed her post-doc at

The Hospital for Sick Children ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. Her research focussed on the rare genetic disorder biallelic mismatch repair deficiency. She now works at

, Toronto.

References

External links

TED Fellow Dr Vicky Forster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Vicky 21st-century British biologists 21st-century English scientists 21st-century British women scientists English biologists English women biologists British cancer researchers Living people Alumni of Newcastle University Alumni of Durham University People from Chelmsford British science writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English women