Emma is a Professor of Gynaecological Oncology whose research interests include screening, prevention and the early detection of gynaecological cancers, as well as developing new treatments and interventions for women with established disease.

Emma Davidson (previously Crosbie) studied medicine as an undergraduate at Edinburgh University Medical School. She was awarded an intercalated First Class Honours BSc in Psychology and the Drever Prize for Psychology in 1995, having scored highest amongst her year group. In 1997, she was awarded her MBChB with Honours, the James Scott Scholarship for Obstetrics, Distinctions in Obstetrics, Paediatrics and Surgery, and the Dorothy Gilfillan Prize, awarded to the woman student most distinguished in the final MBChB exams. 

Following her pre-registration house jobs, Emma began her career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology as a Senior House Officer at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 1999, she moved to Manchester to work at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research and St Mary's Hospital as the Joseph Starkey Clinical Research Fellow under the supervision of Professors Peter Stern and Henry Kitchener. In 2002, she was awarded a PhD in Gynaecological Oncology by the University of Manchester for her thesis entitled 'Immunological aspects of HPV infection in vulval intraepithelial neoplasia'. For this work, she was awarded the Edgar Gentilli Prize for original research into gynaecological cancer by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Emma returned to full time clinical training as a Senior Senior House Officer and then Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the North West in 2002. In 2006, she successfully gained Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. In 2008, she became a Walport Clinical Lecturer in Gynaecological Oncology, combining subspecialty training in Gynaecological Oncology with research. During this time, she was awarded the RCOG Harold Malkin prize and the Manchester Business School Medical Leadership in Practice prize.

In 2013, Emma was awarded an NIHR Clinician Scientist Fellowship and became a Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Gynaecological Oncology at the University of Manchester. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious RCOG William Blair Bell Memorial Lectureship for Outstanding Research in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 2019, Emma was promoted to Professor of Gynaecological Oncology at the University of Manchester. She won the NCRI Cancer Research Excellence in Surgical Trials (CREST) Award in 2019 for her outstanding contribution to surgical trial recruitment. She featured as a BMJ Role Model in 2019 and won the University of Manchester Faculty of Medicine award for Best Postgraduate Research Supervisor in 2020. She was awarded a 5-year NIHR Advanced Fellowship to study urine HPV testing for cervical screening in 2020.

In 2021, Emma was winner of the Outstanding Contribution to PPIE Award at the Faculty Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Celebration Event and Outstanding Benefit to Society through Research category of the University of Manchester Making a Difference Awards. In 2021, she led the MFT Lynch syndrome screening for endometrial cancer project that was Highly Commended in the BMJ Cancer Care Team of the year awards.

In 2022, Emma and Team Womb won more prizes, including the inaugural Greater Manchester Cancer Research Award for research that led to new NICE guidance recommending all endometrial cancer patients be offered testing for Lynch syndrome; as well as Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Awards for founding Peaches Womb Cancer Trust and for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity with the ACES LGBTQIA+ project.

In 2023, Emma was awarded a Lynch Syndrome UK personal award for Services to People with Lynch syndrome. In 2024, she won FindAPhD Postgraduate Supervisor of the Year and was awarded a prestigious NIHR Research Professorship. In the same year, her team won the American Association of Cancer Research Team Science Award and were Highly Commended in the University of Manchester Making A Difference Awards for Outstanding Benefit to Inclusive Research.

Endometrial cancer is the fourth most common cancer affecting women in the UK, behind breast, lung and colon cancer. The incidence of endometrial cancer has been rising steadily over the past twenty years. At the same time, the number of women dying from the disease has increased, despite improvements in overall survival. Endometrial cancer ranks highest amongst all cancers in its association with obesity. My group is interested in exploring this link with obesity with a view to developing new treatment and prevention strategies for endometrial cancer.  

Current projects include:

• The role of obesity and weight loss on the endometrium
• The effectiveness of intra-uterine progestin plus weight loss for the treatment of obese women with endometrial precancer /early stage cancer
• Endometrial cancer prevention through lifestyle change and progestin treatment
• Screening for Lynch syndrome-associated endometrial cancer and understanding its biology
• Developing novel non-invasive detection tools for endometrial cancer
• Risk prediction modelling for the identification of women at greatest risk of endometrial cancer to enable targeted prevention strategies
• Diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for endometrial cancer

Other research interests include human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated lower genital tract neoplasia, particularly CIN and cervical cancer. My group is involved in:

• Testing interventions designed to improve uptake of cervical screening 
• Investigating the clinical utility of new HPV tests
• Urine for HPV detection and improving uptake in cervical screening 

We are also involved in projects exploring novel biomarkers for ovarian cancer detection

MBChB:

4th year project option supervisor & examiner

Final MBChB OSCE examiner

Tutor and lecturer of 4th year medical students during obs/gynae placement at St Mary's

Clinical postgraduate:

Doctoral Academy Outstanding Supervisor of the Year 2020

BMJ Role Model 2019

Supervisor for MD and PhD students

Internal MPhil, MD and PhD examiner

Tutor and lecturer on various postgraduate courses locally & nationally

Non-clinical postgraduate:

Supervisor for PhD students

Professor Gareth Evans

Professor Andrew Renehan

Professor Richard Edmondson

Professor Akheel Syed

Dr Alex Sargent

Dr Sacha Howell

Dr Vanitha Sivalingam

Dr Sarah Kitson

Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Chair of the RCOG Academic Board

RCOG Genomics Taskforce

Deputy Editor in Chief, BJOG 

Fellow of the Higher Education Authority

Chair of Endometrial Workstream of NCRI Gynaecology Group   

Deputy Chair of NCRI Screening, Prevention and Early Detection (SPED) Group

Blair Bell Research Society Committee 

British Gynaecological Cancer Society

Gynaecology Lead of the European Hereditary Tumor Group

CRUK Population Health Research Committee (past member)

Wellbeing of Women Research Advisory Committee (past member)

Clinical trial design and execution

Novel intervention pilot studies

Translational research

Systematic reviews

Psychology BSc (First class Honours) Edinburgh 1995

MBChB (with Honours) Edinburgh 1997

PhD Manchester 2002

FRCOG 2020