In 1961 Bodmer joined
Joshua Lederberg's laboratory in the genetics department of
Stanford University as a
postdoctoral researcher, continuing his work on
population genetics. In 1962 Walter Bodmer was appointed to the faculty at Stanford. He left Stanford University in 1970 to become the first professor of genetics at the
University of Oxford. Bodmer was Vice-President of the
Royal Institution from 1981 until 1982. Bodmer developed models for
population genetics and worked on the
human leukocyte antigen system and the use of
somatic cell hybrids for human
linkage studies. In 1985 he chaired a
Royal Society committee which wrote
The Bodmer Report; this has been credited with starting the movement for the
public understanding of science. The report was instrumental in leading to the creation of the
Committee on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) in 1987. Bodmer was one of the first to suggest the idea of the
Human Genome Project. In 1987 he received the
Ellison-Cliffe Medal from the
Royal Society of Medicine. He was the director of research (1979–1991) and then
director general (1991–1996) of the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund. He was also
chancellor of the
University of Salford, England (1995–2005; succeeded by
Sir Martin Harris) and
principal of
Hertford College, Oxford (1996–2005; succeeded by
Dr. John Landers). In 2005, Bodmer was appointed to lead a £2.3 million project (roughly US$4.5 million) by the
Wellcome Trust at the
University of Oxford to examine the genetic makeup of the United Kingdom – the
People of the British Isles project. He was joined by Oxford Professor
Peter Donnelly (a population genetics and statistics expert) and the Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow Lon Cardon. Bodmer said, "Our aim is to characterise the genetic make-up of the British population and relate this to the historical and archaeological evidence." The researchers presented some of their findings to the public via the
Channel 4 television series "Faces of Britain". On 14 April 2007, Channel 4 in
Britain aired a program that highlighted the study's then-current findings. The project took
DNA samples from hundreds of volunteers throughout Britain, seeking tell-tale fragments of DNA that would reveal the biological traces of successive waves of colonisers –
Celts,
Saxons,
Vikings, etc. – in various parts of Britain. The findings showed that the Viking invasion of Britain was predominantly from Danish Vikings while the
Orkney Islands were settled by Norwegian Vikings. This research was most recently presented at the
Galton Institute's conference on 'New Light on Old Britons' in 2019. Bodmer had previously worked with the Galton Institute as its president from 2008 to 2014. He has been head of the cancer and immunogenetics laboratory in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the
University of Oxford since 1996. Research interests of the laboratory include the fundamental genetics and biology of
colorectal cancer.
Honours and awards Bodmer has won numerous awards including: • 1972: Elected member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. •
1974: Fellow of the Royal Society • 1980:
William Allan Award • 1981: Elected member of the United States
National Academy of Sciences. • 1986:
Knight Bachelor • 1987:
Ellison-Cliffe Medal from the
Royal Society of Medicine. • 1988: Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the
University of Bath. • 1989: Elected member of the
American Philosophical Society • 2013:
Royal Medal from the
Royal Society • 1984: delivered the
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on
The Message of the Genes. • Honorary member,
British Society for Immunology His certificate of election to the Royal Society reads: ==Personal life==