Dr. Karen Sayal

Dr Karen Sayal is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at University College London Hospitals(UCLH), specialising in thyroid and haematological cancers, and UCLH’s first Translational AI Innovation Lead. She trained in medicine at the University of Cambridge (MB BChir) before completing postgraduate training at the University of Oxford (MRCP, FRCR, DPhil in AI and advanced sequencing). She has previously held senior industry roles in AI-driven drug development at Recursion Pharmaceuticals and at the AI division of GSK Pharmaceuticals, and has worked with the Data Science team at 10 Downing Street. She is involved in translational vaccine and AI research at UCL and speaks internationally on the use of AI in personalised cancer care.

Dr Sayal’s research interests centre on the application of artificial intelligence to personalised oncology, including molecular monitoring, genomic profiling and n-of-1 trial design for rare and treatment-refractory cancers. Her clinical research focuses on using AI and advanced sequencing to tailor diagnosis and treatment decisions to the individual patient, moving beyond population-level protocols toward truly personalised care pathways. She works closely with the diagnostics landscape relevant to her patients, including tumour-informed minimal residual disease (MRD) testing and comprehensive genomic profiling.