Dr Janice Atkins is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Epidemiology and Public Health Group at the University of Exeter Medical School. Her research focuses on the analysis of environmental and genetic risk factors of ageing and age-related diseases. She has a particular research interest in the common genetic condition hereditary haemochromatosis, which can cause iron overload.
Dr Atkins holds a BSc Human Biology (Loughborough University), MSc Epidemiology (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and a PhD in Epidemiology (University College London). Her work is currently funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellowship to investigate how to improve the diagnosis of hereditary haemochromatosis.
Janice’s research on hereditary haemochromatosis in UK Biobank has found that male p.C282Y homozygotes have a ten-fold increase in the risk of liver cancer, a doubling in the risk of dementia and substantial excess sarcopenia, frailty, and chronic pain compared to those without mutations.