Professor Krina Zondervan

Fellow by Special Election in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Krina Zondervan is Professor of Reproductive & Genomic Epidemiology and Head of the Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health. She is also Co-Director of the Oxford Endometriosis CaRe Centre.

Born in the Netherlands, Krina obtained an MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Leiden in 1995. She first arrived at St Edmund Hall in 1993 as an Erasmus exchange student in Biochemistry, and returned in 1995 to read for a DPhil in Epidemiology aided by a William R Miller postgraduate award. Her DPhil shaped and focused her research interests in women’s health. She subsequently obtained a Medical Research Council research training fellowship in Genetic Epidemiology (2001) and a Wellcome Trust Career Development fellowship (2007), and in 2013 was recognised as Outstanding Female Scientist (AcademiaNet), by Wellcome Trust nomination.

Based at the Nuffield Dept of Women’s & Reproductive Health and the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Krina’s research group focuses on understanding the causes of common women’s health conditions through genomic and epidemiological (large population-based) approaches, in order to inform improved diagnostic and treatment options. A particular focus is endometriosis – a condition causing pain and infertility in an estimated 1.5 million women in the UK and 180 million worldwide. She is Co-Director of the Oxford Endometriosis CaRe centre and leads a number of global collaborative initiatives including large-scale studies that have identified genetic variants involved in its development. She is Board member of a number of organisations including the World Endometriosis Society, World Endometriosis Research Foundation, and the Wellbeing of Women UK Research Advisory Committee. She is also Oxford University Champion of the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Scheme that offers support to biomedical researchers at the start of their first independent post to help launch their research careers.

Krina re-joined the Hall in June 2016 as a Fellow by Special Election. On 21 April 2022, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship Ad Eundem by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in recognition of services and research into women’s health.

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Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular)

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Biomedical Sciences

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Medicine

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Understanding Endometriosis

15 Mar 2021

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