Associate Professor (teaching focused)

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Office: D116

SLS Clusters

Neuroscience

Teaching Interests

My research background lies in how the autonomic nervous system helps to govern the activity of other systems in the body, particularly the cardiovascular system. As a result of this I have developed a strong interest in physiology, and love teaching how individual cells function together to form complex systems, and then how these systems interact with each other. I have been the academic lead on a variety of modules at all undergraduate levels - focusing on aspects of neuroscience, and the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. I offer research projects exploring how we can use our knowledge of the autonomic nervous system to develop device-based therapies for the treatment of disease states, and in the evidence supporting dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system in post covid syndrome.

I am currently the Undergraduate Programme Director for the School of Life Sciences.

Research Interests and Other Activities

I am interested in how the central nervous system helps to coordinate the function of the cardiovascular system. An imbalance in the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic limbs of the autonomic nervous system plays an important role in the development and maintenance of many cardiovascular disease states. I have an interest in the application of neuromodulation techniques to enhance or diminish activity in either the parasympathetic or sympathetic limbs of the autonomic nervous system can be used to try to restore this imbalance.

I also have an interest in the role that the autonomic nervous system plays during exercise. Do all forms of exercise engage the autonomic nervous system in the same way? Can we monitor an individuals’ capacity for exercise by maintaining an overview of the resting activity in the parasympathetic nervous system.

I have recently been collaborating on a project investigating autonomic disturbances in patients with post-covid syndrome through the application of heart rate variability analysis.