# Vicky Forster

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**Victoria Jane (Vicky) Forster** is an English cancer researcher and science communicator. As of 2022 she is Patient and Community Engagement Lead at [Women's College Hospital](/source/Women's_College_Hospital) in Toronto.[1][2]

## Education

Forster grew up in Chelmsford, Essex. She was diagnosed with [acute lymphoblastic leukemia](/source/Acute_lymphoblastic_leukemia) aged 7.[3] She became interested in scientific research whilst at hospital, and went on to study [biomedical science](/source/Biomedical_sciences) at the [Durham University](/source/Durham_University).[3][4] She graduated from [Durham University](/source/Durham_University) in 2008.[5] Forster completed a PhD at [Newcastle University](/source/Newcastle_University) with James Allan and Olaf Heidenreich.[3][6] On the day she finished her PhD, she [tweeted](/source/Twitter), *Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and now I’ve got a PhD in cancer research*, which became a [viral](/source/Viral_marketing) post.[7][8]

## Career

Forster used the media attention to praise where she worked, the Northern Institute for [Cancer Research](/source/Cancer_research), Newcastle upon Tyne.[7] Here she concentrated on [leukemia](/source/Leukemia) caused by mutations in DNA.[7]

In 2014 Forster was a [British Science Association](/source/British_Science_Association) Media Fellow.[9][10] That year, she spoke at [TEDx](/source/TEDx) [Jesmond Dene](/source/Jesmond_Dene) about the legacy of [Janet Rowley](/source/Janet_Rowley).[11] In 2015 she won the Communications and Brand Ambassador Prize from [Cancer Research UK](/source/Cancer_Research_UK).[12] She appeared in the science communication project [Soapbox Science](/source/Soapbox_Science).[13] Forster was a 2017 [TED Global Fellow](/source/TED_Fellow) researching [paediatric cancer](/source/Pediatric_cancers).[14][15] Her [TED](/source/TED_(conference)) talk, *What can cancer survivors teach us about cancer treatment*, was in [Arusha](/source/Arusha), Tanzania.[16] She was listed in the 2017 [Forbes 30 Under 30](/source/Forbes_30_Under_30)[17] and was part of the [BBC](/source/BBC)'s 100 Women science week.[18] She has written for The Times, The Conversation, Forbes Health and The Guardian.[19][20][21][22] She is a member of the Society of [The International Society of Paediatric Oncology](/source/International_Society_of_Paediatric_Oncology).[23]

She completed her post-doc at [The Hospital for Sick Children](/source/The_Hospital_for_Sick_Children,_Toronto). Her research focussed on the rare genetic disorder biallelic mismatch repair deficiency.[24] She now works at [Women's College Hospital](/source/Women's_College_Hospital), Toronto.[25]

## References

1. ["“Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and today I got my PhD in cancer research”"](https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2012/12/12/dear-cancer-i-beat-you-aged-eight-and-today-i-got-my-phd-in-cancer-research/). *Cancer Research UK - Cancer News*. 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2024-05-11.

1. ["Cancer survivor Vicky Forster hopes to find a cure"](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-18723723). *BBC News*. 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2024-05-11.

1. Thunder, Jamie (2012-06-30). ["Woman fights cancer as a patient - and then as a scientist"](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/jul/01/vicky-forster-cancer-science-newcastle). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Dear Cancer, I beat you aged eight and today I got my PhD in cancer research"](http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2012/12/12/dear-cancer-i-beat-you-aged-eight-and-today-i-got-my-phd-in-cancer-research/). *Cancer Research UK - Science blog*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Victoria Forster"](https://theconversation.com/profiles/victoria-forster-128558). *The Conversation*. 7 June 2014. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. Jane, Forster, Victoria (2012). [*AML1/ETO promotes a mutator phenotype in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukaemia*](http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.606731) (Ph.D). University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

1. ["Dear Cancer - Dr Vicky Forster's story"](http://futurefund.co.uk/dear-cancer-dr-vicky-forsters-story/). *futurefund.co.uk*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201107125819/http://futurefund.co.uk/dear-cancer-dr-vicky-forsters-story/) 7 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Ex-patient heads cancer cure bid"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18723723). *BBC News*. 2012-07-06. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Victoria Froster – Our_Futures"](http://ourfutures.co/project/victoria-forster). *ourfutures.co*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Media Fellow alumni"](https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/media-fellow-alumni). *British Science Association*. 8 June 2021.

1. TEDx Talks (2014-07-23), ["Dissecting DNA to cure cancers - the legacy of Dr. Janet Rowley | Victoria Forster | TEDxJesmondDene"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqmd9CRaDFM), retrieved 2018-03-27

1. ["Communications and Brand Ambassador Prize"](https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/how-we-deliver-research/our-research-prizes/communications-and-brand-ambassador-prize). *Cancer Research UK*. 29 October 2015.

1. Soapbox Science (2015-06-29), ["Dr Vicky Forster on being a Soapbox Scientist"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfAMcRYFKhs), retrieved 2018-03-27

1. ["Get to know the extraordinary new class of TED Fellows"](https://fellowsblog.ted.com/get-to-know-the-extraordinary-new-class-of-ted-fellows-5bd01d2c5dfc?gi=b70fb306186b). *TED Fellows*. 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Vicky Forster awarded TEDGlobal 2017 Fellowship"](https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/news/vicky-forster-awarded-tedglobal-2017-fellowship). *British Science Association*. 24 May 2017.

1. TED Archive (2018-02-27), ["What can cancer survivors teach us about cancer treatment? | Victoria Forster"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJVKF6tTHvI), retrieved 2018-03-26

1. ["Victoria Forster"](https://www.forbes.com/profile/victoria-forster/). *Forbes*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Child cancer survivor fights for better treatment"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-41945248). *BBC News*. 10 November 2017.

1. Forster, Victoria. ["Victoria Forster"](https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/#6bf52bf76cc9). *Forbes*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. Forster, Vicky (2014-08-30). ["Childhood cancer survivors face risk of early death"](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/childhood-cancer-survivors-face-risk-of-early-death-lcr2r7d72hh). *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*. [ISSN 0140-0460](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0140-0460). Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Victoria Forster"](https://theconversation.com/profiles/victoria-forster-128558/articles). *The Conversation*. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. Forster, Victoria (2016-07-04). ["Why Brexit is bad news for cancer research"](https://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2016/jul/04/why-brexit-is-bad-news-for-cancer-research). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["Who is behind the Blog?"](https://siop-online.org/blog/whos-behind-the-blog/). *The International Society of Paediatric Oncology*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180704035403/https://siop-online.org/blog/whos-behind-the-blog/) 4 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. Children, The Hospital for Sick. ["Profile of Victoria Forster"](http://www.sickkids.ca/Research/AbouttheInstitute/Profiles/GGB/forster-profile.html). *www.sickkids.ca*. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

1. ["New job at Women's College Hospital in Toronto"](https://victoria-forster-sbta.squarespace.com/newsblog/2022/7/18/new-job-at-womens-college-hospital-in-toronto). *Dr Victoria Forster*. 18 July 2022.

## External links

- [TED Fellow Dr Vicky Forster](https://medium.com/@vickyyyf)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vicky Forster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Forster) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Forster?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.