Christopher Wild

Christopher Wild was awarded a PhD in Oncology from the University of Manchester, UK in 1984. In 1996, he took up the Chair of Molecular Epidemiology at the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, later becoming Director of the Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics. From 2009 to 2018, he was Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization. He led the organization in a global mission of “cancer research for cancer prevention”. Upon leaving he was named Emeritus Director.

His main research interest has been to understand the interplay between environmental and genetic risk factors in the causation of human cancer. He established the concept of the “exposome” to complement the genome, an initiative which has led to a new field of exposome research.

Chris has held a long-standing interest in how Christian beliefs and values can help shape the pursuit and understanding of science and its applications. Recently he has published articles in Christian magazines on the topic of genetic advances and the associated moral and ethical implications. In 2025 he published a book titled: Unravelling DNA: Applying Christian Values to a Genetic Age (GBJ Books). He lives on the south coast of England with his wife, Heather.