Peter Harper (geneticist)
Quick Facts
Biography
Sir Peter Stanley Harper, CBE (born 1939) is University Research Professor (Emeritus) in Human Genetics at Cardiff University. His work has focused on researching neurogenetics and has resulted in important discoveries concerning muscular dystrophies and Huntington's disease. He was knighted in 2004 for services to medicine.
Work
Until 2004 Sir Peter was Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff. He helped to develop the Wales Medical Genetics Service and has been a member of the UK Human Genetics Commission and Advisory Committee on Genetic testing. He was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2004-2010. As a consultant to the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, he has contributed to several oral histories which address recent developments in clinical genetics in the UK.
Honours and awards
He delivered the Lumleian Lecture to the Royal College of Physicians in 1995.
Personal life
Sir Peter married Elaine, a district nurse, and the couple have five children.
Books
- Practical Genetic Counselling, 1998 Hodder Arnold
- Myotonic Dystrophy: The Facts, 2002
- Landmarks in Medical Genetics, 2004 OUP
- First Years of Human Chromosomes, 2006 Scion Press
- A Short History of Medical Genetics, 2008. OUP