Christine Harrison is Professor of Childhood Cancer Cytogenetics at Newcastle University. She has an international reputation in cancer genetics for her high quality scientific and translational research, which has directly contributed to changes in treatment. She is one of the most highly regarded leukaemia cytogeneticists worldwide. Particularly in acute leukaemia, cytogenetics has been the most powerful tool in risk stratification of patients for treatment, resulting in an improved survival for children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Christine has directly contributed to these improvements by the discovery of novel genetic changes for which appropriately modified treatment has significantly improved outcome.