Gerry ThomasGerry Thomas is Professor of Molecular Pathology at Imperial College and is committed to developing infrastructures for research into molecular mechanisms of cancer. She strongly believes that public involvement and information is a key part of acadeic research, and is actively involved in the public communication of research, particularly with respect to radiation protection and biobanking. She has carried out research into the health effects of the Chernobyl accident since 1992, and established the Chernobyl Tissue Bank (CTB: www.chernobyltissuebank.com) in 1998. The CTB has provided infrastructural support (both physical and ethical) in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia for thyroid cancer diagnosis and research into the molecular mechanisms that underlie the increase in thyroid cancer seen after the Chernobyl accident. The project provides a platform for a systems biology approach to exploring these mechanisms and supports tissue collection for international epidemiology studies. Gerry has published extensively on the molecular pathology of thyroid cancer, and is an author of a number of reviews of the health effects of radiation exposure following nuclear accidents. Following the Fukushima accident, she was asked to explain the health risks of radiation on both broadcast and written media in the UK and internationally. Read More Read Less