Karen Vousden

Since 2016, she has moved back to London to take up the role of CRUK Chief Scientist and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute. In 2018, she was elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reactivating p53 can inhibit the growth of some tumours, making Mdm2 an attractive target for cancer therapeutics. As Mdm2 targets only a small number of proteins for destruction, an inhibitor might have few side effects. A major focus of Vousden's recent work has been investigating the structure of Mdm2 and seeking molecules that inhibit it; a group of low-molecular-weight compounds (discovered in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow) have recently shown promise in cell-culture studies. Mdm2 inhibitors have also been discovered by researchers at Hoffmann–La Roche and the Karolinska Institute.

In 2004, The Scotsman named Vousden among the 25 most powerful Scottish women.

From 2003 to 2016, she was the director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow, UK, where she oversaw a £15 million expansion. She also led the institute's Tumour Suppression research group.

Vousden is a fellow of the Royal Society (2003), Royal Society of Edinburgh (2004) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (2006); she was also elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2004. The Institute of Cancer Research awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in Science (Medicine) in 2006. She gave the Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins Memorial Lecture of the Biochemical Society in 2008. She was awarded the Royal Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2009. Vousden was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.

From 1987 to 1995, she led the Human Papillomavirus Group at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, London, UK. In 1995, she joined the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, USA, serving successively as head of the Molecular Carcinogenesis section of the ABL-Basic Research Program (1995–97), director of the Molecular Virology and Carcinogenesis Laboratory (1997–98), interim director of the ABL-Basic Research Program (1998–99) and chief of the Regulation of Cell Growth Laboratory, Division of Basic Sciences (1999–2002).

Vousden's early postdoctoral research positions were with Chris Marshall at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK (1981–85) and Douglas Lowy at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, United States (1985–87).

After attending Gravesend Grammar School for Girls, Vousden gained a Bachelor of Science degree in genetics and microbiology (1978) and a PhD from Queen Mary College, University of London on the use of suppressor gene mutations to study transfer RNA redundancy in the fungus Coprinus.

Professor Karen Heather Vousden, CBE, FRS, FRSE, FMedSci (born 19 July 1957) is a British medical researcher. She is known for her work on the tumour suppressor protein, p53, and in particular her discovery of the important regulatory role of Mdm2, an attractive target for anti-cancer agents. From 2003 to 2016, she was the director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow, UK, moving back to London in 2016 to take up the role of Chief Scientist at CRUK and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.