Dian Donnai is Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Manchester, Clinical Head of Division of St Mary's Hospital and Consultant in the North West Regional Genetics Service. This integrated Manchester University and NHS department of over 200 staff is one of the most comprehensive in the UK. She qualified in medicine in London and trained in paediatrics and genetics.

"There is literally new knowledge every week"

Dian's group studies childhood syndromes that involve structural malformations and learning disability and the molecular mechanisms underlying them. Her particular interest is Williams syndrome, in which individuals have a specific pattern of heart defects and cognitive changes, now known to result from a deletion of genes on chromosome 7. 

Dian led a successful bid for £3.5 million to establish a Genetics Knowledge Park, the Nowgen Centre, and a National Genetics Reference Laboratory, following the 2003 White Paper on genetics.