Our People
Louiza Velentzis
Head of Research
Louiza joined the research team in 2005 and is responsible for the expansion and national roll-out of the Diet & Lifestyle Study. Since January 2010 she and Dr Anthony Leathem have led the Breast Cancer Research Group within the Institute for Women's Health.
Louiza has a first in biochemistry and microbiology from King's College London and a master's in human reproductive biology from Imperial College. She gained a PhD in nutritional cancer epidemiology at University College London.
Louiza joined the research team in 2005 and is responsible for the expansion and national roll-out of the Diet & Lifestyle Study. Since January 2010 she and Dr Anthony Leathem have led the Breast Cancer Research Group within the Institute for Women's Health.
Louiza has a first in biochemistry and microbiology from King's College London and a master's in human reproductive biology from Imperial College. She gained a PhD in nutritional cancer epidemiology at University College London.
Thirty years ago Anthony was a pathologist at Middlesex Hospital - later University College London (UCL). Disturbed by the number of post mortems he carried out on young women with breast cancer, he has since devoted his life to improving breast cancer survival.
You can read more about how Anthony and his wife Patricia set up Against Breast Cancer to fund his research on the Our Story page. Anthony retired from his post as Head of the Breast Cancer Research Group at UCL in 2009 but continues to be actively involved.
Simon first developed an interest in glycobiology while completing his biochemistry BSc at Imperial College. After joining the research team, Against Breast Cancer funded his D.Phil in biochemistry at the University of Oxford.
Simon researches the glycobiology of breast cancer, specifically seeking novel glycoprotein biomarkers of metastatic disease and patients' natural immunity (antibodies) to them.
For his PhD, Babak researched the development of reagents that detect complex sugars associated with human disease and making artificial antibodies to sugars. He's now comparing the aggressiveness of sugars in cancers and analysing the huge amount of data gained from carbohydrate analytical methods such as mass spectrometry and the novel technology of the GlycoStation™. His goal is to develop glycan-based tests for breast cancer in order to improve patient treatment and disease management.
Hannah's PhD research at Oxford Brookes University focused on breast cancer spread and interactions between sugars on breast cancer cells and the cells lining blood vessels. She's now working on identifying new carbohydrate breast cancer markers in blood and urine samples to improve detection.
Ann is a state-registered biomedical scientist with a scientific career spanning many decades of laboratory-based pathology and breast cancer research. For the past ten years she's been involved in breast cancer clinical studies and has played a key role in the Diet and Lifestyle Study since its inception.
After completing a master's in immunology at University College London, Annie spent many years researching tumour immunology before joining the Diet and Lifestyle Study team in 2003. She focuses on managing and analysing the study's clinical data.
After receiving a Masters in Pharmacology from the University of Bath, Ruth completed her PhD in tumour and radiation biology at the University of Manchester, looking at the influence of the menstrual cycle on the outcome of radiation therapy. Ruth has experience in the field of radiation biology in cancer and cancer biomarkers. Her work is focused on looking at the link between diet and lifestyle on breast cancer survival.
