I graduated from medical school at the Ludwig Maximilian’s University in Munich (LMU) in Germany in 2002. This is also where I was awarded a Doctorate of Medicine (Dr. med.) for research into the gut immune response to H. pylori in children. I gained valuable clinical experience in London, Toronto in Canada, Wexford in Ireland and Munich in Germany before eventually embarking on a career in neurology under Professor Werner Hacke at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. During my time in Heidelberg, I worked in Professor Hannah Monyer’s laboratory on the generation of a mouse model studying electrical synapses in the brain.

After moving to Scotland and obtaining MRCP (Edinburgh) membership, I was accepted into the Scottish Neurology training programme in 2008. I was then awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD fellowship and completed my PhD under the supervision of Professor Dario Alessi FRS FRSE on the “Signalling pathway of the E3 ubiquitin ligase subunit FBXO7 and its role in hereditary Parkinsonism” (2010-2014). From 2014 to 2016 I was appointed to a Scottish Clinical Research Excellence Development Scheme (SCREDS) lectureship enabling me to finish my neurology training while continuing to work in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit as a postdoctoral researcher.

I was appointed Consultant Neurologist in 2016 and have been awarded an Allied Health Science Partnership in Tayside (AHSP) fellowship enabling me to set up a translational link between the MRC PPU and the neurology department at Ninewells Hospital. My clinical interests include movement disorders, in particular Parkinson’s disease and related Parkinsonian syndromes as well as neurogenetics. I chair the Tayside Parkinson’s forum. I am a member of the Neurogenetics Advisory Group of the Association of British Neurologists (ABN). I have teaching responsibilities for undergraduate neurology (third year MBChB medicine course).

I have received support from the Wellcome Trust, the Academy of Medical Sciences (Starter Grant for Clinical Lecturers and SUSTAIN fellowship), local charities including the Tenovus and Anonymous Trusts as well as Parkinson’s UK.