Leadership Team
Head of Department
Professor Jon Brown
Prof Jon Brown is the Head of the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, responsible for the academic leadership of the department.
Jon is a neuroscientist, specialising in neuronal and synaptic circuit dysfunction in rodent models of human neurological and psychiatric disease. He studied Neuroscience at the University of Manchester, before taking up a research scientist role at GlaxoSmithKline, where he obtained his PhD (awarded by the University of Bristol). After some time, he returned to academia taking up a post-doctoral position at the University of Bristol, whilst maintaining close links with the pharmaceutical industry.
Jon joined the University of Exeter in 2012, to establish an applied neurophysiology lab, funded initially by an Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellowship. As well as running his research group, he has been closely involved with the development of Neuroscience education programmes in the department.
Email: J.T.Brown@exeter.ac.uk
Deputy Head of Department
Professor Jonathan Mill
Jonathan Mill is Professor of Epigenomics at the University of Exeter Medical School where he heads the Complex Disease Epigenomics Group.
He graduated with a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University, where he took a particular interest in cannibalism, before undertaking his PhD in psychiatric genetics at King's College London.
His research explores the factors controlling transcriptional regulation in the central nervous system, with a focus on the role of epigenomic variation in disorders of the brain including schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
Email: J.Mill@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Research and Impact
.jpg)
Professor Anna Murray
Anna Murray has responsibility for guiding the research and impact strategy for the department. She is supported in this role by colleagues working across our core research themes. The role includes looking at research culture, supporting and developing funding bids, supporting early career researchers and submitting to the REF.
Anna joined the University in 2005 and is a Professor of Human Genetics. Her research focuses on using genomics to understand reproductive ageing and associated health outcomes. A list of her publications is available on Google Scholar.
Email: A.Murray@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Business Engagement and Innovation
Professor Ben Housden
Ben Housden is an Associate Professor based in the Living Systems Institute. Ben's group’s research is focused on developing new technologies for drug-target discovery and applying those new methods to find new therapies for a range of different diseases.
Working with IIB and the wider faculty Business Engagement and Innovation team, he is passionate about helping people to identify the potential of their research for generating impact through commercialisation or partnership with industry. In addition, he is keen to work with early career researchers to support them in developing their contacts and skills towards a career in industry.
Email: B.Housden@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Global Engagement
Professor Katie Lunnon
Katie Lunnon is a Professor in Dementia Genomics and Director of Global Engagement (DoDE) for the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Exeter.
Katie leads a team of four postdoctoral researchers, one research assistant and five PhD students. This Dementia Genomics team is part of the Complex Disease Epigenetics Group and are using multi-omics approaches to understand the aetiology of a range of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Huntington’s disease (HD). They are particularly interested in the perturbation of gene regulatory networks in these diseases, mapping alterations in DNA methylation and non-coding RNA species with transcriptional data.
She currently holds >£3M in research funding as principal investigator from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Medical Research Council (MRC), Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK), Alzheimer’s Society and BRACE.
Katie has received several national and international awards for her work, and currently chairs the Alzheimer’s Research UK grant review board.
Email: K.Lunnon@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Education and Student Experience (Medicine)
Professor Alison Curnow
Director of Medicine (Academic), Professor of Academic Medicine and Principal Investigator, Clinical Photobiology, with twenty five years’ experience of conducting oncological related research.
Extensively involved in the strategic leadership and management of the development, delivery and assessment of the Medical Schools’ undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (2003 to date). Co-leader of our Undergraduate Medicine BMBS programme since 2016. An experienced educator with a wide range of high quality teaching, assessment and curriculum development skills. Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.
Cornish, life-long learner. Privileged to be helping to educate the next generation of NHS doctors, who continue to inspire on a daily basis.
Professor Alison Curnow, BSc (Hons), PhD, PGCE, PFHEA, FAcadMEd
University of Exeter Medical School
Email: a.curnow@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Education and Student Experience (Biomedical Sciences)
Dr Clare Gallon
Clare Gallon is the Director of Education and Student Experience for undergraduate Biomedical Sciences programmes and the programme director for Sport & Exercise Medical Sciences and joined the Medical School in November 2011. She is involved in teaching on the Medicine, Neuroscience, Sport and Exercise Medical Sciences and Medical Sciences degree programmes.
Email: ceg216@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Education and Student Experience (Postgraduate Taught programmes)
Dr Vikki Moye
Based on St Luke’s campus, Vikki Moye is an enthusiastic educator who has been involved in the development and delivery of both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the department for over 10 years.
Prior to working for the University she worked as a Clinical Scientist (Molecular Genetics) in the NHS for more than 10 years and my research background is in cancer cell biology. Her specialist teaching areas include cancer biology and genetics/genomics (including pharmacogenomics).
Having been deputy programme lead for the MSc Genomic Medicine programme and led a variety of modules for a number of years currently, her main responsibility is overseeing the portfolio of postgraduate taught programmes in the department to ensure excellent education and student experience.
Email: V.E.Moye@exeter.ac.uk
Co-Director of Postgraduate Research (PGR)
Professor Sarah Richardson
Sarah Richardson is an Associate Professor of Cellular Biomedicine in the Islet Biology Exeter (IBEx) team and is Co-Director of Postgraduate Research (PGR) for the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences and is a Steve Morgan Foundation Grand Challenge Senior Research Fellow.
She has a passionate interest in Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and Team Science. She has held prestigious Fellowships from the Wellcome Trust, the Diabetes Research Wellness Foundation, and the JDRF 5-year Career Development Award. Her research utilises cohorts of T1D pancreas samples and is centred around developing a clearer understanding of the processes by which beta cells are targeted and destroyed.
Email: S.Richardson@exeter.ac.uk
Co-Director of Postgraduate Research (PGR)
Professor Chris Scotton
Chris is an Associate Professor in Respiratory Biomedicine, and Co-Director of Postgraduate Research (PGR) for the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences.
He joined Exeter in 2014 and currently leads the Respiratory Medicine research group in close collaboration with the clinical team at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Trust. The group pursues a bench-to-bedside approach, aiming to translate novel research findings into clinically relevant therapeutics and diagnostics for patients with chronic lung disease.
From 2017-2021 Chris was Chairperson of the British Association for Lung Research and also sat on the science & research committees of the British Lung Foundation and the British Thoracic Society.
He is currently on the research review panel for Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis and is an Associate Editor for one of the leading respiratory journals, Thorax.
Email: C.J.Scotton@exeter.ac.uk
Programme Director (Neuroscience)
Professor Crawford Winlove
Crawford Winlove is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience. He grew up in London, and was educated at the University of Bristol. Crawford was introduced by Dr Robert Meech to the possibility of identifying the biophysical basis of behaviour in simple animals. As a result, after a period of fundraising for Amnesty International, Crawford returned to Bristol to complete a PhD with Prof. Alan Roberts FRS. This research used in vivo patch-clamp electrophysiology to understand the role of spinal neurons in animal models of behaviour.
Email: c.i.p.winlove@exeter.ac.uk
Programme Director (Med Sci)
Dr Shelly (Yuktee) Dogra
Shelly joined the University of Exeter in 2017 where she taught across various programmes. In 2023 she became Program Director for Medical Sciences. Shelly is a fellow of the HEA, undertaking her pedagogical research into academic tutoring, an area she is particular interested in.
Shelly undertook her PhD at Peninsula Medical School with Prof Paul Winyard and Prof Alice Curnow, focusing on the enhancing the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of non-melenoma skin cancer. Her postdoctoral research investigated the environmental effects of nanoparticles.
Email: y.dogra@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Dr Musarrat Maisha Reza
Dr Reza is a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences (CBS) and a Fellow of AdvanceHE, UK. She received her PhD from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2017.
She is an elected Senator and sits on the University Education Board-Taught Programmes. She also provides advise on the university underrepresented students working group. As the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Lead on the Department Leadership Team, Dr Reza works with Directors at a strategic level to embed EDI across CBS. As the Year 2 Lead for the Medical Science Programme, she provides leadership and oversight to Academic Tutors and Module Leads.
Email: M.Reza@exeter.ac.uk
Department Manager
Starr Young
Starr is the Department Manager for Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, and is the main Professional Services link for the department. Prior to this she was Research Project Manager for the Exeter Centre of Excellence for Diabetes Research (EXCEED), following a £6m award from Research England, and still acts as Unit Manager for this award.
Email: S.A.Young@exeter.ac.uk
