Professor of the Epidemiology of Ageing

Professor Pashayan studied biology and medicine at the American University of Beirut (AUB), epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, public health at the University of Cambridge, and medical education at the University of Dundee. She gained her PhD in cancer screening from the University of Cambridge. She trained as family physician at AUB-Medical Centre before training in public health medicine in East of England.

She is an honorary consultant in public health medicine at the Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust. Before joining the Department of Public Health and Primary Care in 2023, she was Professor of Applied Cancer Research and Head of the Research Department of Applied Health Research at UCL.

Professor Pashayan is a British Psychological Society Level A and Level B assessor. She has received the RCGP Young Investigator’s Bill Styles Memorial award, the AACR Pezcoller Foundation Scholar-in-Training award, and the Cancer Research UK Training Fellowship in Epidemiology and Public Health and Clinician Scientist Fellowship.

Professor Pashayan’s research field is in risk stratification and cancer screening, leading among the first publications in the field of risk-stratified cancer screening. Her research focusses on three areas:

• Understanding the natural history of cancer to inform early detection strategies.
• Evaluating benefit-harm balance and cost-effectiveness of early detection interventions to inform policy.
• Exploring the barriers and enablers and co-designing strategies for implementation of evidence-based early detection interventions tailored to the specific context.