We’re celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science
This International Day of Women and Girls in Science we’re celebrating some of the pioneering women who are driving Parkinson’s research forward.
Women and girls play a crucial role in science and research, including driving groundbreaking Parkinson's research.
So this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we're spotlighting some of the inspiring women who are making Parkinson's breakthroughs happen.
Dr Rachael Lawson
Dr Rachael Lawson is a Janet Owens Parkinson's UK Senior Research Fellow at Newcastle University. Her background is as a psychologist, and she has spent the last 10 years working to understand the challenges experienced by people living with Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions.
She’s a co-lead of the North East and Cumbria Parkinson's Research Interest Group, member of the Critical Path for Parkinson's (CPP) consortium and member of the Parkinson's UK College of Experts grant review panel just to name a few!
At the moment, Dr Lawson and her team are researching symptoms of delirium in people with Parkinson’s who have been admitted to hospital. They’re using this research to develop guidelines to help hospitals provide better care for people with Parkinson’s who are experiencing delirium.
Professor Heather Mortiboys
Professor Heather Mortiboys is a Professor of Cellular Neuroscience and Metabolism at the University of Sheffield. She joined the Neuroscience department at the university in 2006. She’s since focused on investigating how changes to the mitochondria, the energy producing part of the cell, might play a role in Parkinson’s.
Professor Mortiboys became a scientist to develop treatments that will make a difference to peoples’ lives. She’s found involving people with Parkinson’s in her research motivating and has helped shape her experiments to be more relevant to people living with the condition.
Professor Mortiboys is currently working on a research project that aims to take important steps towards creating a drug to rescue failing mitochondria and potentially slow the progression of Parkinson’s.
Dr Latha Velayudhan
Dr Latha Velayudhan is a Clinical Reader in Ageing and Dementia Studies, and Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist at King's College London. She’s a consultant and researcher with a particular interest in mental health problems in older people.
Dr Velayudhan has studied mental health and neurosciences in Bangalore, Leicester and London! She has even led the design of apps for people with dementia and their carers.
Dr Velayudhan is currently researching CBD as a potential treatment for psychosis in Parkinson’s, in a project supported by the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech.
It's thanks to the innovation of researchers like Dr Lawson, Professor Mortiboys and Dr Velayudhan that we get closer to a cure every day. Explore their projects and the other research into Parkinson's breakthroughs.