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
co-Deputy Head of Department
Professor Craig Beall
Craig is the co-Deputy Head of Department, research theme lead for diabetes, obesity and metabolic health and senate representative for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.
He leads a team of two postdoctoral research assistants, a graduate research assistant and two PhD students. His work spans diabetes and neuroscience. Current projects are examining the impact of diabetes drugs on brain cell health and function; the impact of novel pre-clinical and clinical compounds on type 1 diabetes auto-immunity and systems and strategies to improve stem cell islet transplantation to cure type 1 diabetes.
Craig currently serves as the basic science lead for the Diabetes UK Programme Conference Organising Committee, the Science Committee for the Society for Endocrinology and sits of the advisory board for Diabetes Wellness Sweden.
View Craig's profile | Email: C.Beall@exeter.ac.uk
co-Deputy Head of Department
Professor Jess Tyrrell
Jess Tyrrell is co-Deputy Head of Department and takes a leading role in supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) across the department. Working closely with colleagues, she helps to foster a supportive, inclusive and collaborative research environment, with a particular focus on mentoring and career development. Her role includes supporting ECRs with research funding opportunities, developing teaching experience and leadership skills, and encouraging engagement with industry, policy and other external partners.
Jess joined the University of Exeter in 2010 and is an Associate Professor in Genetic Epidemiology. Her research focuses on applying genetic and epidemiological methods to tease apart the complex relationships between metabolic and mental health. She is also an experienced educator and is the Programme Director for the MSc in Genomic Medicine.
View Jess' profile | Email: J.Tyrrell@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
Associate Dean for Medical Education
Professor Laura Mongan
Laura joined University of Exeter in 2025 as Associate Dean for Medical Education in the University of Exeter Medical School. Prior to this, she was Head of Education in the School of Medical Sciences, University of Birmingham and previously held senior programme leadership roles at the Universities of York (Hull York Medical School) and Leicester (Leicester Medical School). She has considerable experience of curriculum review and development, and her interests lie in ensuring that inclusive support for learning for all students is central to curriculum design and management.
University of Exeter Medical School
Email: l.mongan@exeter.ac.uk
Director of Education and Student Experience (Biomedical Sciences)
Professor 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
Co-Director of Global Engagement
Professor Musarrat Maisha Reza
Professor Musarrat Maisha Reza is an award-winning educator, academic leader and international collaborator whose work spans global engagement, educational scholarship, inclusive education and curriculum innovation. She has led institution-wide and nationally recognised initiatives that have advanced student belonging, educational excellence and inclusive practice across higher education.
Previously serving as CBS Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Maisha established and led the Department’s Wellbeing, Inclusion and Culture Committee (WICC), growing it into the faculty’s largest committee with over 60 members across seven workstreams. Through a collaborative approach, she worked with colleagues to embed EDI strategically across departmental culture, education and staff experience. Under this collective leadership, the WICC was recognised with the Champion for Student Experience and Support Award at the University of Exeter’s 2024 Success for All Awards.
As Joint Director of Global Engagement, Maisha leads the Department’s global education and transnational education agenda, focusing on strategic international partnerships, student recruitment and mobility, and global education collaborations. Drawing on extensive international networks, she works to expand Exeter’s global reach, reputation and impact through inclusive and sustainable international engagement.
Co-Director of Global Engagement
Professor Richard Oram
Professor Richard Oram is co-Director of Global Engagement and is a specialist in type 1 diabetes, based in the NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility. His work focuses on studying the genetics and biology of type 1 diabetes, and the impact of these on risk for type 1 diabetes and progression to clinical diagnosis. and improving prediction and diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes, including newborn screening and rare early-onset forms of the condition. He collaborates widely on national and international studies to better understand diabetes subtypes, complications, and prevention opportunities.
Richard is a clinical nephrologist who looks after people with chronic kidney disease, during his medical training and specialisation in nephrology he undertook a PhD in the biology of beta cell loss in type 1 diabetes (T1D), funded by Diabetes UK. His work demonstrated persistent low levels of beta cell function in many people with type 1 diabetes. At the end of his PhD he spent time training in Kidney and Islet transplantation at the University of Alberta and Canada, he worked on novel methods to assess islet transplant function with Peter Senior and Shareen Forbes. He returned to the UK with support from a Diabetes UK Harry Keen fellowship which initiated the EXE T1D study of rare infants under the age of 2 who develop type 1 diabetes (now funded for over 10 years by Diabetes UK and The Helmsley Charitable Trust).
He has subsequently strengthened an interest on the genetics of type 1 diabetes, developing a T1D Genetic Risk Score with Mike Weedon, Kash Patel and Seth Sharp to aid classification and prediction of T1D. He has tested and refined the T1D GRS in multiple settings including studies spanning multiple continents and from newborn screening through to adult T1D prediction (with funding from Breakthrough T1D, Diabetes UK, Randox, and NIDDK). He developed a partnership with a UK diagnostics company, Randox, to develop an IVDR/CE marked T1D GRS diagnostic test. With Lauric Ferrat (University of Geneva), Richard has developed combined prediction models that aim to develop clinical tolls to aid prediction and risk stratification in T1D.
Department Manager
Kirsty Mushing
Kirsty Mushing is the Department Manager for Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, providing professional services leadership and strategic support across all aspects of departmental activity. Working closely with the Head of Department and Department Leadership Team, she helps shape and deliver the department's strategic priorities, supporting excellence in research, education and staff experience.
Her role encompasses finance, people management, governance, communications, estates and operational delivery, alongside leading the department's professional services teams. Kirsty works collaboratively with academic and professional colleagues to deliver complex projects, support organisational development and create the conditions for staff and students to succeed.
Kirsty is particularly passionate about fostering an inclusive and supportive culture, developing high-performing teams and finding practical solutions to organisational challenges. She enjoys bringing people together to drive positive change and is committed to ensuring that professional services are a valued and strategic partner in achieving the department's ambitions.
Email: K.Mushing2@exeter.ac.uk