Professor Waseem Qasim

Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy, UCL ICH and Consultant Immunologist, GOSH

Waseem Qasim was responsible for the pioneering gene editing treatment used on one-year-old Layla Richards to treat her supposedly incurable leukaemia at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2015. Special permission was given for the treatment, which uses ‘molecular scissors’ to modify T-cells from healthy patients so they can potentially be given to hundreds of patients, and it has so far been judged a success. Qasim obtained his medical degree from Newcastle University and a PhD in Gene Therapy from UCL. He has worked for the Leukaemia Research Fund and the Institute of Child Health as well as Great Ormond Street.

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Debrett's 500 2016