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Dr Aoife Kiely
Name:
Dr Aoife Kiely
Job Title:
Science Review Manager
Place of work / study:
UK Dementia Research Institute
Area of Research:
Alzheimer’s / dementia / neurodegeneration
Tell us a little about yourself:
Aoife joined the UK DRI in October 2019 following two years as Research Communications Officer at Alzheimer’s Society. In this role, Aoife was editor for the ‘Care & Cure’ research magazine, arranging and conducting media interviews for print, radio, television and hosting podcasts with funded researchers.
Following completion of her PhD in the biochemistry of Alzheimer’s disease from University College Cork, Ireland, Aoife worked for five years as a postdoctoral researcher at Queen Square Brain Bank, specialising in neuroinflammation and a-synuclein biology in parkinsonism. In this new role as Science Review Manager at UK DRI, Aoife will be the main point of contact and coordinator for internal award programmes.
Aoife’s interests include science, making her own clothes (the rest have likely come from rummaging in charity/vintage shops), gardening and exercising while listening to true crime podcasts.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I used to sing backup vocals in a reggae band, we toured Irish festivals and were very mildly successful…
Why did you choose to work in dementia:
Like any neuroscientist will tell you I grew up being fascinated by science, then the brain, then how the brain works. At university I was excited to learn about how the brain grows and develops. Dementia and the damage to and loss of neurons that it causes seems like such a solvable puzzle. I’m confident that we will get there someday soon, although I learned after years of post-docing that I no longer wanted to be the person seeking the cure. I decided I was better at supporting researchers and communicating science to the public. Giving people the ability to understand the devastation condition that is affecting them and their family is really important to me. I think it is vital that the public have dependable ways of accessing science so they can see through all the fake news and pressure the government to support research.
Dr Gaia Brezzo
UK DRI