Julie Williams CBE FLSW FMedSci (born 1957) [1] is Professor of Neuropsychological Genetics at Cardiff University and was Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales from 2013 to 2017. She is one of the world's leading contributors to Alzheimer's research. [1]
She was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, [2] and grew up in Cefn Coed and attended Vaynor and Penderyn Grammar School. [1] She went on to study psychology at Cardiff University. [3]
Williams is Professor of Neuropsychological Genetics and Head of the Neurodegeneration section of the Medical Research Council Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University. [4] She is a former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, and in 2012 was appointed a CBE for her contribution to Alzheimer's research. She is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. [5]
Professor Julie Williams was Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales from September 2013 to September 2017, [6] the second person to hold the post. Edwina Hart, Minister for the Economy, Science and Transport, said "She is a great role model for women in science ...Her networks of national and international scientists will be crucial in opening the doors for Wales". [2]
Williams' research aims to identify and characterise genes which confer a risk of developing psychological and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, developmental dyslexia, and schizophrenia. She has received funding from the Wellcome Trust, MRC and the Health Foundation. [7]
Sir Martin John EvansFLSW is an English biologist who, with Matthew Kaufman, was the first to culture mice embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981. He is also known, along with Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies, for his work in the development of the knockout mouse and the related technology of gene targeting, a method of using embryonic stem cells to create specific gene modifications in mice. In 2007, the three shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their discovery and contribution to the efforts to develop new treatments for illnesses in humans.
The Cardiff University School of Medicine is the medical school of Cardiff University and is located in Cardiff, Wales, UK. Founded in 1893 as part of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, it is the oldest of the three medical schools in Wales.
Dame Kay Elizabeth Davies is a British geneticist. She is Dr Lee's Professor of Anatomy at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. She is director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) functional genetics unit, a governor of the Wellcome Trust, a director of the Oxford Centre for Gene Function, and a patron and Senior Member of Oxford University Scientific Society. Her research group has an international reputation for work on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In the 1980s, she developed a test which allowed for the screening of foetuses whose mothers have a high risk of carrying DMD.
Dame Henrietta Miriam Ottoline Leyser is a British plant biologist and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge who is on secondment as CEO of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). From 2013 to 2020 she was the director of the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge.
Dame Linda Partridge is a British geneticist, who studies the biology and genetics of ageing (biogerontology) and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Partridge is currently Weldon Professor of Biometry at the Institute of Healthy Ageing, Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, and the Founding Director Emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany.
John Anthony Pickett is a British chemist who is noted for his work on insect pheromones. Pickett is Professor of Biological Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at Cardiff University. He previously served as the Michael Elliott Distinguished Research Fellow at Rothamsted Research.
The Learned Society of Wales is a national academy, learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh nation.
Sir Peter Stanley Harper was a British physician and academic who was University Research Professor (Emeritus) in Human Genetics at Cardiff University. His work focused on researching neurogenetics and has resulted in discoveries concerning muscular dystrophies and Huntington's disease. He was knighted in 2004 for services to medicine.
Dame Lesley Anne Glover is a Scottish biologist and academic. She was Professor of molecular biology and cell biology at the University of Aberdeen before being named Vice Principal for External Affairs and Dean for Europe. She served as Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission from 2012 to 2014. In 2018 she joined the Principal's senior advisory team at the University of Strathclyde.
Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, is professor of clinical neuropsychology at the department of psychiatry and Medical Research Council (MRC)/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge. She is also an honorary clinical psychologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. She has an international reputation in the fields of cognitive psychopharmacology, neuroethics, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and neuroimaging.
Colin Bryan Riordan FLSW is a British academic who was formerly President and Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University from September 2012 to August 2023.
Sir Michael John Owen FRCPsych FMedSci FLSW is a Welsh research scientist in the area of psychiatry, currently the head of the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences at Cardiff University.
Keith G. Harding CBE FRCGP FRCP FRCS FLSW is a British physician.
Sir Mansel Aylward was a Welsh public health physician and academic. He was Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director and Chief Scientist at the U.K. Government Department for Work and Pensions.
Meena Upadhyaya is an Indian-born Welsh medical geneticist and a Professor emerita at Cardiff University. Her research has focused on the genes that cause various genetic disorders, in particular neurofibromatosis type I and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
Elizabeth Tulip Treasure is a former consultant dentist and professor of dentistry who served as the Vice-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University in Wales from 2017 to 2023.
Ole Holger Petersen is a Danish-born research professor at Cardiff University where he studies physiology, especially calcium signalling and the pancreas. He was born in 1943 in Copenhagen, the first son of Joergen Petersen, an officer in the Danish navy, and Elisabeth née Klein, a pianist.
Sheila Rowan is a Scottish physicist and academic, who is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and director of its Institute for Gravitational Research since 2009. She is known for her work in advancing the detection of gravitational waves. In 2016, Rowan was appointed the (part-time) Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.
Anita Thapar is a Welsh child psychiatrist who is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience at Cardiff University. Her research focuses on risk factors for ADHD and major depression in children. She was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1995, and of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Learned Society of Wales in 2011. In 2017, she received the Frances Hoggan Medal from the Learned Society of Wales and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), both in recognition of her research in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Sir Robert Hughes Williams,, commonly known as Robin Williams, is a Welsh physicist and academic, specialising in solid state physics and semiconductors. He was Vice-Chancellor of University of Wales, Swansea from 1994 to 2003. He had taught at the New University of Ulster and University of Wales, College of Cardiff, before joining Swansea.