Baroness Susan Greenfield
Susan Greenfield, Ph.D., CBE is Director of the Royal Institution of
Great Britain, Fullerian Professor of Physiology, Honorary Fellow,
Senior Research Fellow.
Her latest book is
I.D.: The Quest for Meaning in the 21st Century (2008)
which discusses two threats to our individuality:
new technology and the rise in fundamentalism.
Susan was both an undergraduate and graduate at Oxford, but
has subsequently spent time in postdoctoral research at the College de
France, Paris, with Professor J Glowinski and at the New York University
Medical Centre, New York, with Professor R Llinas. As a consequence of
working in both biochemical and electrophysiological environments, she
has developed a multidisciplinary approach to exploring novel neuronal
mechanisms in the brain that are common to regions affected in both
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The basic theme of her research is
to
develop strategies to arrest neuronal death in these disorders.
She is also cofounder of Synaptica Ltd., a university spin-out company
specializing in
novel approaches to neurodegeneration. In addition,
Susan has a supplementary interest in the neuroscientific
basis of consciousness, and accordingly has written
Journey to the
Centres of the Mind Toward a Science of Consciousness (1995), and
Private Life of the Brain (2000).
Her
book
Tomorrow’s People: How 21st Century technology is changing the way
we think and feel (Penguin 2003), explores human nature, and
its
potential vulnerability in an age of technology. In addition, she is
also Director of the Institute for the Future of the Mind, part of the
James Martin 21st Century School, which exploits the parallels between
the brains of the very young and very old, and how they are all
vulnerable to technology, chemical manipulation, and disease. She has
also written
The Human Brain: A Guided Tour (1997), which ranked in the best seller list for hard and
paperbacks.
Susan’s papers include
Differential Autoreceptor Control of Somatodendritic and Axon
Terminal
Dopamine Release in Substantia Nigra, Ventral Tegmental Area, and
Striatum,
On-line visualization of dendritic release of acetylcholinesterase
from mammalian substantia nigra neurons,
Functional Domains in Dorsal Striatum of the Nonhuman Primate Are
Defined by the Dynamic Behavior of Dopamine,
Histamine H3 Receptors Inhibit Serotonin Release in
Substantia
Nigra
Pars Reticulata, and
A noncholinergic action of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in the brain:
From neuronal secretion to the generation of movement.
She
held the Gresham Chair of Physic from 1996–1999, and has received 28
honorary degrees. Her honorary degrees include a DSc
by Oxford Brookes University in 1997, a DSc from the University of St.
Andrew’s in 1998, and a DSc from Exeter University in 1998.
In 1998 she was awarded the Michael Faraday medal by
the Royal Society and in 1999 she was elected to an Honorary Fellowship
of
the Royal College of Physicians. She is also involved in science policy
and has given a consultative seminar to the Prime Minister on the future
of science in the UK.
Susan has been involved in the
“Science and the
Economy” seminars at No 11 and in response to a request in 2002 from the
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, she produced the Greenfield
Report
SET Fair: A Report on Women in Science, Engineering, and
Technology. She has also been elected as Adelaide’s Thinker in
Residence
for 2004 and 2005. She was awarded the CBE in the Millennium New Year’s
Honor’s List and Life Peerage (non-political) in 2001. In 2003 she was
awarded the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur.
Watch
Baroness Prof. Dr. Susan Greenfield (University of Oxford) – The
Future
of Brain,
Gurus – Baroness Greenfield, and
The Big Question – Why Am I Me?.
Read
Interview
with Susan Greenfield.
