# Mel Greaves

Source: https://onco.cc/people/mel-greaves/  
OnCo record `mel-greaves` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Showed that childhood leukaemia begins before birth and framed cancer as an evolutionary process.

## Summary

Mel Greaves is Professor of Cell Biology at The Institute of Cancer Research and Founding Director of its Centre for Evolution and Cancer. His specialisms are cancer evolution, childhood leukaemia and cancer origins. He traced the prenatal origins of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia using twin studies and neonatal blood spots, showing that the disease begins before birth, and framed cancer as an evolutionary process. His Nature Reviews Cancer paper proposed a causal mechanism for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the delayed-infection hypothesis for its aetiology. His publications are listed on PubMed.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Professor of Cell Biology, ICR; Founding Director, Centre for Evolution and Cancer
- Specialisms: Cancer evolution; Childhood leukaemia; Cancer origins

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Greaves%20M%5BAuthor%5D%20leukaemia%20evolution

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/)
- institutions: [The Institute of Cancer Research](https://onco.cc/institutions/icr-london/)
- journals: [Nature Reviews Cancer](https://onco.cc/journals/nature-reviews-cancer/)
- pathways: [Theories of cancer: how the ideas connect](https://onco.cc/pathways/theories-of-cancer/)
- terms: [Clonal evolution and the ecological view of cancer](https://onco.cc/terms/clonal-evolution-theory/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/mel-greaves.json