Profile – Dr Frances Wiseman

Name:

Dr Frances Wiseman

Job Title:

Senior Research Fellow

Place of work / study:

University College London, Institute of Neurology

Area of research:

Dementia in people who have Down syndrome

How is your work funded?

My PhD was funded by the Wellcome Trust, as post-doc I was employed on grants from the MRC, Wellcome Trust and a US charity called the Fidelity Foundation. I am about to take-up an Alzheimer’s Research UK funded fellowship and I also currently have funding from a EU collaborative schemes (called COEN & JPND) and from the Alzheimer’s Society.  Thank you to all these funders for helping us undertake our research.

Tell us a little about yourself:            

I have been involved in dementia research since my PhD on Prion disease and have worked on the links between Down syndrome and AD since my first post-doc.  In addition to being a scientist, I am also the mother of two lovely kids and am married to another academic.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself:           

I am Cornish and my first job was as a holiday chalet cleaner… it was quite amazing what people used to forget to pack!

Why did you choose to work in dementia?

My grandmother died from dementia when I was a teenager and this experience had a big influence in me deciding to work in this research area.