Name:
Dr Carol Routledge
Job title:
Director of Research
Place of work / study:
Alzheimer’s Research UK
Area of Research:
Neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia
How is your work funded:
Alzheimer’s Research UK
Tell us a little about yourself:
First and foremost, I am a Neuroscientist and, following that, I am an R&D professional and drug development expert with a strong emphasis on translational medicine. I have over 30 years of experience within UK and US based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and the non-profit sector with a focus on drug acquisition and profiling of NCEs and biologics. My combination of preclinical and clinical CNS experience gives me the advantage of being able to apply a strong scientific rationale and innovative experimental approaches to clinical development for obtaining early proof of mechanism/concept. My clinical experience spans both psychiatric and neurological indications, with a strong focus on understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases that underpin dementia.
I also have experience in managing a semi-philanthropic dementia fund (DDF) with a key focus on identifying and developing novel disease-modifying mechanisms for the treatment of diseases that cause dementia, sourcing opportunities from academic research groups and small companies. The fund invests in therapeutic and enabling opportunities from target validation to early clinical development. Finally, my current expertise includes leading the research strategy, both preclinical and clinical, across Alzheimer’s Research UK for response-mode funding, strategic funding and global projects.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I have absolutely no idea what to put in here which would entertain everyone else
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
I first became interested in Neuroscience at University thanks to an amazingly good lecturer, at that stage neuroscience was both neurology and psychiatry, but in later roles the two were split. Neurodegenerative diseases are, scientifically, incredibly interesting and understanding disease pathology, how they progress and importantly how to develop effective treatments is still a significant challenge. In addition, this is an area of huge unmet medical need due to a lack of treatments, it is for all of the above reasons that I chose to work in the dementia research field.