Dame Lyn Chitty PhD

Dame Lyn Chitty is a British physician and academic specialising in genetics and fetal medicine. She is Professor of Genetics and Fetal Medicine at University College London (UCL) and a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she has worked since the 1980s. Her research focuses on prenatal diagnosis and screening, particularly the development of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) using fetal DNA found in maternal blood. She has led major UK research programmes, including the NIHR-funded RAPID project, which helped establish safer alternatives to invasive prenatal testing and supported the rollout of genomic testing in the NHS.

She has also contributed to large-scale genomic initiatives such as the UK 100,000 Genomes Project, helping improve diagnosis for rare genetic conditions in pregnancy and childhood.  Chitty has held leadership roles at UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital, including Deputy Director of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and she has been President of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis.  In recognition of her contributions to medicine, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2022.