Kate Baker
BA (Oxon), PhD (UCL), MBBS (Royal Free & UCL Medical School), MRCPCH (RCPCH), CCT (GMC)
College roles
Fellow (D)
Director of Studies in Medical Sciences (Part IA; Parts IA and IB in Easter Term 2026)
Biography
Dr Kate D Baker studied medicine at the University of Oxford and University College London, completing her PhD at UCL Institute of Child Health within the MBPhD programme. After paediatric specialty training, she moved to Cambridge to train as a clinical geneticist, and became a clinical lecturer to continue her research.
Kate is now Assistant Professor of Clinical Genetics in the Department of Pathology, and a Programme Leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. She is an Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics at Cambridge University Hospital, and an affiliate PI of the Academic Department of Genomic Medicine. She is the current Editor-of-Chief of Brain and Neuroscience Advances, the journal of the British Neuroscience Association.
Research Interests
Kate's research group focuses on rare genetic conditions affecting brain development and mental health. Their work aims to improve mechanistic understanding of these conditions, improve post-diagnostic care, and improve long-term health outcomes for patients and their families. Current research projects involve (a) deep phenotyping via cognitive neuroscience methods and (b) broad data analyses of research cohorts and routine healthcare data. We collaborate with basic neuroscientists to link our results to cellular and developmental mechanisms, and with psychologists to place our results in social context.