Personal information

Medical Detection Dogs, Bio Detection Dogs, Cancer Detection Dogs
United Kingdom

Biography

Dr Claire Guest obtained a BSc in Psychology in 1986, followed by an MSc in Psychology by research. She is a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, became Chair for three years and was Director of Operations & Research at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Claire directed one of the first programmes in the world to train dogs to identify cancer by odour and published the first robust proof of principle study in the BMJ in September 2004. Claire became Co-Founder of Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) in 2008 and is now the Chief Executive and Chief Scientific Officer. In 2011 Claire was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the development of new approaches for the detection of life-threatening diseases. In January 2015 she was awarded a British Citizen Award for health and in 2016 received the CBI National First Women award for Science and Technology. Claire is also a frequent peer reviewed author in scientific journals and has co-authored numerous publications on the detection of diseases by canines. In 2016 she wrote “Daisy’s Gift”, published by Virgin books, about the formation of the charity and her remarkable dog ‘Daisy’, who indicated her own breast cancer. Claire regularly presents at conferences around the world, and frequently appears on national and international television and radio to discuss and promote the pioneering work and research of MDD.

Founding of the charity:
Claire co- founded Medical Detection Dogs alongside Dr John Church in 2008 following their publication in 2004 in the British Medical Journal publication that proved that dogs can be trained to detect human bladder cancer from urine samples. In the following years Medical Detection Dogs has focused on establishing a strong evidence base, our passion for improving the training and communication that we share with our dogs has enabled us to develop the power of this canine ability and to further train our dogs to detect other life threatening diseases such as malaria, Parkinson’s, pseudomonas, various cancers and more.

Activities

Employment (5)

Medical Detection Dogs : Milton Keynes, GB

2019 to present | Co-Founder, CEO & CSO
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Medical Detection Dogs: Great Horwood, GB

2003 to 2019 | Co-Founder, CEO & Director of Operations
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People: Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, GB

1990 to 2009 | National Operations Manager
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People: Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, GB

2006 to 2007 | Director of Operations & Research
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People: Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, GB

2000 to 2006 | Operations Director
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Education and qualifications (3)

University of Bedfordshire: Luton, Luton, GB

2011 | Honorary DSc
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

University of Warwick: Coventry, Coventry, GB

1998 to 2003 | MSc (Psychology)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

University of Wales: Swansea, GB, GB

1983 to 1986 | BSc (Hons) (Psychology )
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Professional activities (9)

Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts Manufacturers and Commerce: London, London, GB

2019 to present | Fellow
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors: Ipswich, GB

2016 to present | Life Honorary Member
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Assistance Dogs Europe (ADEu): Brussels, Not in USA, BE

2016 to present | Trustee
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Assistance Dogs UK (ADUK): Buckinghamshire, Not in USA, GB

2008 to present | Trustee
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

The Royal Society of Medicine: London, London, GB

1996 to present | Fellow
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

CEO Today European Business Awards: London, GB

2019 | CEO Today European Business Award
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Confederation of British Industry: London, London, GB

2015 | National First Women award for Science and Technology
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

University of Lincoln: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, GB

2008 to 2011 | Honorary Visiting Fellow
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors: Ipswich, GB

2000 to 2004 | Chair
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Works (17)

A Lesson in Standardization – Subtle Aspects of the Processing of Samples Can Greatly Affect Dogs' Learning

Frontiers in Veterinary Science
2020-08-18 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 2297-1769
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Could bio-detection dogs be used to limit the spread of COVID-19 by travellers?

Journal of Travel Medicine
2020-08-12 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 1195-1982
Part of ISSN: 1708-8305
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Editorial: Canine Olfactory Detection

Frontiers in Veterinary Science
2020-02-27 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 2297-1769
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Training dogs to differentiate Pseudomonas aeruginosa from other cystic fibrosis bacterial pathogens: not to be sniffed at?

European Respiratory Journal
2019-11 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0903-1936
Part of ISSN: 1399-3003
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Trained dogs identify people with malaria parasites by their odour

The Lancet Infectious Diseases
2019-06 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 1473-3099
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

SNIFF AND TELL: THE FEASIBILITY OF USING BIO-DETECTION DOGS AS A MOBILE DIAGNOSTIC INTERVENTION FOR ASYMPTOMATIC MALARIA IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Journal of Biosocial Science
2019-05 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0021-9320
Part of ISSN: 1469-7599
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

An Owner-Independent Investigation of Diabetes Alert Dog Performance

Frontiers in Veterinary Science
2019-03-27 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 2297-1769
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Canine Olfactory Thresholds to Amyl Acetate in a Biomedical Detection Scenario

Frontiers in Veterinary Science
2019-01-22 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 2297-1769
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

How effective are trained dogs at alerting their owners to changes in blood glycaemic levels?: Variations in performance of glycaemia alert dogs

PLOS ONE
2019-01-15 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 1932-6203
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Re-Centering Multispecies Practices

Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '15
2015 | Journal article
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Using Sniffing Behavior to Differentiate True Negative from False Negative Responses in Trained Scent-Detection Dogs

Chemical Senses
2014-11-01 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0379-864X
Part of ISSN: 1464-3553
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Investigation into the Value of Trained Glycaemia Alert Dogs to Clients with Type I Diabetes

PLoS ONE
2013-08-07 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 1932-6203
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Volatile organic compounds as biomarkers of bladder cancer: Sensitivity and specificity using trained sniffer dogs

Cancer Biomarkers
2011-10-12 | Journal article
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Prevalence ofCampylobacterand four endoparasites in dog populations associated with Hearing Dogs

Journal of Small Animal Practice
2007-11 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0022-4510
Part of ISSN: 1748-5827
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Hearing Dogs: A Longitudinal Study of Social and Psychological Effects on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Recipients

Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
2005-11-23 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 1081-4159
Part of ISSN: 1465-7325
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Olfactory detection of human bladder cancer by dogs: proof of principle study

BMJ
2004-09-25 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0959-8138
Part of ISSN: 1468-5833
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA

Another sniffer dog for the clinic?

The Lancet
2001-09 | Journal article
Part of ISSN: 0140-6736
Source: Self-asserted source
Claire Guest OBE BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh FRSA