Prof. Newton-Bishop trained in general medicine on the London Hospital Medical Rotation and then in Dermatology in London, at St Thomas’s Hospital and the St Johns Institute of Dermatology. She completed her PhD thesis in the Richard Dimbleby Department of Cancer Research and was appointed as Senior Lecturer (Honorary Consultant) at the Royal London Hospital in 1989. It was here she established herself as a melanoma researcher with a particular interest in genetics, with a programme of research designed to understand the causes of melanoma.

In 1995 she moved to Leeds and broadened her research aims to ask what inherited, somatic tumour events and exposures moderate melanoma survival. She played a key role in establishing UK and European Clinical Guidelines, and have been involved in other UK committees designed to inform management.

In 1997 she instigated the international melanoma genetics consortium GenoMEL, which has led the way internationally in the identification of common and rare inherited genetic variants associated with melanoma risk. This is important in terms of understanding the biology of melanoma aetiology, giving insight into prevention, and for the rare high penetrance genes the long-term aim is to understand risk and to instruct proper screening programmes.

Her research focus in recent years has shifted to include investigation of environmental factors which modify the interaction between the patient and his/her tumour by collecting complex data sets on lifestyles, blood samples and tumour samples from melanoma patients. A plain English summary of these findings can be found here: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/find-a-clinical-trial/a-study-looking-at-why-melanoma-skin-cancer-comes-back-after-surgery

More information about Prof. Newton-Bishop’s research can be found here: https://medicinehealth.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/staff/648/professor-julia-newton-bishop