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Professor Anthony Moorman is the Professor of Genetic Epidemiology in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University. He is the Director of the Leukaemia Research Cytogenomics Group at the Wolfson Childhood Cancer Research Centre within the Translational and Clinical Research Institute. His research specializations encompass the genetic epidemiology of acute leukaemia, particularly acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), in both paediatric and adult patients. Core academic interests include cytogenetics and genomics of childhood and adult ALL, development of risk stratification and prognostic biomarkers, biologically informed treatment decisions, application of next-generation sequencing to childhood ALL genomics, and investigation of long-term outcomes and risk factors associated with high-risk genetics in paediatric ALL.
Throughout his career, Professor Moorman has held pivotal roles including Genetics Lead for the Childhood Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) Childhood Leukaemia Study Group and the UK adult ALL research network. He serves as Genetics Co-ordinator for prominent clinical trials such as UKALL2011, UKALL14, and UKALL60, and is a member of the ALLTogether Consortium Genetics and Science Committee as well as Co-chair of the Sample and Data Access Committee for the VIVO Biobank. The Leukaemia Research Cytogenomics Group, co-led by Moorman, maintains genetic, demographic, and clinical data on approximately 30,000 patients from over fifteen National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) clinical trials. His influential publications include the highly cited 'Refinement of cytogenetic classification in acute myeloid leukemia: determination of prognostic significance of rare recurring chromosomal abnormalities among 5876 younger adult patients' (Blood, 2010; 2418 citations), 'Karyotype is an independent prognostic factor in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): analysis of cytogenetic data from patients treated on the Medical Research Council (MRC) UKALLXII/ECOG E2993 trial' (Blood, 2007), and 'Prognostic effect of chromosomal abnormalities in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: results from the UK Medical Research Council ALL97/99 randomised trial' (The Lancet Oncology, 2010). More recent contributions feature 'A robust and validated integrated prognostic index for defining risk groups in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an EWALL collaborative study' (Blood Advances, 2024) and 'Time to Cure for Childhood and Young Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Is Independent of Early Risk Factors: Long-Term Follow-Up of the UKALL2003 Trial' (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2022). Moorman's work has profoundly impacted the field by elucidating the prognostic relevance of genetic aberrations, thereby shaping risk-adapted therapies in international clinical trials.
