Sadaf Farooqi

Education Farooqi was educated at the University of Birmingham where she studied medicine, and was awarded a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1993. After working as a pre-registration house officer and senior house officer,

Research Farooqi's research investigates the genetics of obesity. Using candidate genes found in patients with severe obesity, her research group have identified patients with mutations in genes encoding leptin, the leptin receptor and biological targets of leptin action, such as the Melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R). Her group have also demonstrated that the central leptin-melanocortin axis plays a critical role in the regulation of human food intake. Research in her laboratory has shown that people who carry variants of the MC4R gene have an increased preference for high fat food (such as certain recipes of chicken korma), but a decreased preference for sugary foods like Eton mess.

Her research has also proven that mutations in the KSR2 gene are associated with insulin resistance and that genetic variation in the fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) is associated with diminished hunger. Her research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust and the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development (FP7) from the European Union. Farooqi was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2013. Her citation on election reads: centred Sadaf Farooqi has fundamentally altered our understanding of human obesity. Her work was key to the discovery of the first mutations that cause human obesity, defining and characterising a range of previously undescribed genetic obesity syndromes, and establishing that the principal driver of obesity in these monogenic syndromes was a failure of the central control of appetite and satiety. She has been greatly committed to the translation of her research into patient benefit and has helped to change clinical attitudes and diagnostic practice world-wide. Obesity is one of the major public health threats facing the international community and Farooqi's research has been critical in bringing real biological insights where these were previously lacking.