Biography

Professor Alexandra Sinclair MBChB (Hons) MRCP, PhD graduated from the University of Birmingham School of Medicine in 2000 and attained her MRCP in 2003. She then trained as a Neurology Specialist Registrar in the West Midlands before taking time out of her training to pursue research interests as a Medical Research Council, Clinical Research Training Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

She attained her PhD in 2010 along with a number of prizes for her research: Steven Whittaker Prize, West Midlands Physicians Association (November 2009), Pushpa Chopra Prize, runner-up, Medical Research Society, UK (February 2009), Individual Speciality Award, Medical Research Society, UK (February 2008), Michael Jefferson Prize, Midlands Neurology Society (November 2007) and a poster prize, Society for Endocrinology (March 2007).

Professor Sinclair now works as a Clinician Scientist with a role combining clinical neurology with translational research into idiopathic intracranial hypertension and the neuroendocrine aspects of headache.

Professor Sinclair and her research group recently hosted a high profile visit from NASA. NASA are interested in Professor Sinclair's expertise on raised Intracranial pressure stemming from her leading Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension clinical service at University Hospital Birmingham coupled with her translational science portfolio at the University of Birmingham. Her recent discovery of the novel use of Glucogon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists to reduce intracranial pressure are of particular interest to the NASA team in their quest to reduce brain pressure during long duration space travel and allow them to go beyond the Moon.

Disclosures

Employment: University of Birmingham

Appointments: Trustee-Midlands Neuroscience Teaching and Research Fund

Professional membership: International Headache Society; General Medical Council; British Medical Association; European Headache Federation; North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society; Association of British Neurologists; British Association for the Study of Headache

Personal fees: Honoraria for advisory boards and talks-Novartis; Allergan

Research support: Clinical Headache fellow supported for 1 year by each of Novartis and Allergan

Commercial interests: Executive Director with share options-Invex Therapeutics