Maira Khan
BSc, MPhil
DPhil Student
I started as a DPhil student at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit in 2021, working with Professor Ruth Travis, Professor Tim Key and Dr Karl Smith-Bryne on using genetic information on metabolic and immunomodulatory risk factors to study their association with cancers. I am interested in applying statistical genetic methods, including Mendelian Randomisation and colocalization, in studying sex differences within risk factor profiles and how they modulate cancer risk.
Prior to this, I graduated with an MPhil in Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in 2021. My MPhil thesis, supervised by Dr Stephen Burgess and Dr John Perry, explored how genetically predicted levels of testosterone in men and women were associated with cardiovascular health, using individual level patient data from the UK Biobank. In 2019, I completed my undergraduate from Royal Holloway University of London where I read Biology. Through my undergraduate thesis, I explored sex-specific differences in cancer incidence amongst pre- and post-menopausal women and men using the NIH-SEER Cancer databank.
My DPhil is generously supported by the NDPH departmental scholarship. I hope I can contribute towards improving our understanding of sex-specific medicine, precision medicine and overall cancer research. When not found frantically making sense of R code in a library, I spend my time at Oxford scouring through fashion shows, playing lawn tennis and real tennis.