UK DRI researcher receives prestigious Biochemical Society Award
We are delighted to announce that Prof Joanna Wardlaw (UK DRI at Edinburgh) has been awarded the 2024 Biochemical Society Award for Sustained Excellence.
Each year the Biochemical Society makes a series of prestigious awards that recognise excellence and achievement in both specific and general fields of science. This award recognises Prof Wardlaw’s work on the pathophysiology of cerebral small vessel disease and brain ageing and the development of standards for neuroimaging.
Prof Wardlaw is a Group Leader at the UK DRI at Edinburgh, Professor of Applied Neuroimaging at the University of Edinburgh, and Consultant Neuroradiologist for NHS Lothian. Her work focuses on understanding the brain and its blood supply, and on treatments to improve blood flow to the brain, including thrombolytic drugs that are now in routine use to treat stroke, and more recently on treatments for small vessel disease and dementia.
I feel deeply humbled, since my work is highly collaborative and depends on the contributions of many others, and grateful for the attention that this award will bring to our efforts to improve the lives of people affected by brain blood vessel diseases.
Prof Joanna Wardlaw, Group Leader at the UK DRI at Edinburgh
In collaboration with other scientists, she has been instrumental in advancing understanding of the causes of cerebral small vessel disease and is now testing promising treatments in clinical trials. She has set up national research imaging facilities, co-ordinated international research networks, advanced stroke care worldwide and published over 1000 papers.
Prof Wardlaw said:
"It is a huge honour to have been recognised by The Biochemical Society with the Sustained Excellence Award 2024. I feel deeply humbled, since my work is highly collaborative and depends on the contributions of many others, and grateful for the attention that this award will bring to our efforts to improve the lives of people affected by brain blood vessel diseases."
Professor Colin Bingle, Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Sheffield, and Chair of the Biochemical Society’s Awards Committee, said:
"My personal congratulations to all of the 2024 Biochemical Society Award winners. Every year, the Awards Committee are presented with the difficult task of selecting nominees from an impressive group of candidates and this year was no exception. With the addition of several new award categories to present in 2024, the chosen recipients represent a cross-section of the outstanding work taking place in our community, across a range of career stages. It is also incredibly heartening to see further recognition for teams and technicians, whose support is essential to all research. They should all be incredibly proud of their achievements. Well done to them all.”
