Rate My Professor Anna Murray

Professor Anna Murray is Professor of Human Genetics and Director of Research and Impact for the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Exeter Medical School. She earned a BSc degree in biology from the University of Southampton and completed her PhD in 1994, followed by postdoctoral studies. She joined the University of Exeter in 2005, advancing to senior lecturer and then Associate Professor from 2016 to 2022, prior to her current professorial appointment.

Anna Murray's research specializations center on reproductive genetics and human genetics, particularly the genetic determinants of female reproductive ageing, menopause timing, premature ovarian insufficiency, and related traits. She leads the Reproductive Genomics Group, which is integrated within the Genetics of Complex Traits team, conducting studies on single gene mutations causing premature ovarian failure and genome-wide analyses identifying novel loci associated with reproductive ageing. Her influential work has revealed genetic connections between ovarian ageing, cancer susceptibility, and de novo mutations. Key publications include "Genetic links between ovarian ageing, cancer risk and de novo mutations" (Stankovic et al., Nature, 2024), "Molecular insights into the aetiology of reproductive ageing in women" (Perry et al., Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 2015), "Large-scale genomic analyses link reproductive ageing to hypothalamic signaling, breast cancer susceptibility and BRCA1-mediated DNA repair" (Day et al., Nature Genetics, 2015), "Using human genetics to understand the disease impacts of lifetime exposures to sexual hormones" (Ruth et al., Nature Medicine, 2020), and "Meta-analyses identify 13 novel loci associated with age at menopause" (Stolk et al., Human Molecular Genetics, 2012). These contributions have amassed over 20,000 citations. Professor Murray leads major grants, such as the £5.6 million Wellcome Discovery Award for the Healthy Reproductive Ageing (HERA) Study, and has delivered public lectures including “Decoding the Biological Clock: Exploring the Genetics of Human Reproductive Ageing” in 2023.