Dr Claire Guest OBE

BSc. (Hons) MSc. HonDSc. DHP BCAh

Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr Claire Guest OBE 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 and was Director of Operations & Research at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.  

In 2004 Claire directed one of the first studies in the world to train dogs to identify bladder cancer by odour publishing a robust proof of principle in the British Medical Journal. In 2008 Claire became Co-Founder of Medical Detection Dogs (MDD), a charity that trains both Bio Detection and Medical Alert Assistance Dogs and is the Chief Executive and Chief Scientific Officer.  

Claire headed up a project which was one of the first in the world, to prove that dogs can detect the odour of Covid-19 during the pandemic. She is also spearheading world-leading, innovative projects investigating the potential for dogs to sniff conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, prostate cancer, bowel cancer, malaria, and bacterial infections. Claire and her team have trained and placed over 200 assistance dogs which save the lives of their clients daily, including the first dogs trained to alert to oncoming hypo-glycemic episodes, oncoming PoTS episodes and the first nut allergy dog.  

In 2011 Claire was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of her 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. In 2023 Claire was awarded an OBE for Services to Medical Knowledge, Public Health and Wellbeing.

Claire is Chair of the Trustee Board for The David Riddell CIO which focuses on mental health and suicide awareness, is a Trustee of Assistance Dogs UK and a Board member for Assistance Dogs Europe.

Claire is also a frequent peer reviewed author in scientific journals and has numerous publications on the detection of human diseases by odour, canine olfaction and behaviour, and animal-machine learning. In 2016 she wrote ‘Daisy’s Gift,’ a memoir about the formation of the charity and her remarkable Labrador, Daisy, who alerted her to her own breast cancer.

In 2014, Daisy was awarded the Blue Cross medal, the highest accolade for a working dog. Claire regularly presents at conferences worldwide and on national television and radio to discuss and promote the pioneering work and research of MDD.