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Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield

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Nationality
  
British


Name
  
Susan Baroness

Role
  
Scientist

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons22

Born
  
Susan Adele Greenfield 1 October 1950 (age 73) Hammersmith, London, England, UK (
1950-10-01
)

Institutions
  
University of OxfordRoyal Institution of Great BritainHeriot-Watt UniversityLincoln College, OxfordHouse of Lords

Alma mater
  
Thesis
  
Notable awards
  
CBEChevalier Legion d'honneur

Spouse
  
Peter Atkins (m. 1991–2005)

Books
  
Mind Change: How Digit, The human brain, The private life of the brain, Brain story, Tomorrow's people

Similar People
  
Peter Atkins, Colin Blake, Robert Buchan, Dorothy Bishop, Steve Chapman

Doctoral advisor
  
Anthony David Smith

Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield CBE FRCP (born 1 October 1950) is a British scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords. Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. She is also interested in the neuroscience of consciousness and the impact of technology on the brain.

Contents

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield Susan Greenfield Simple English Wikipedia the free

Greenfield is Senior Research Fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford University and was Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology.

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield Susan Greenfield 39I39m not scaremongering39 Telegraph

She was also Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh between 2005 and 2013. From 1998 to 2010, she was director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. In September 2013, she co-founded the biotech company Neuro-bio Ltd, where she is Chief Executive Officer.

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield Susan Greenfield 39I39ve always marched to the beat of my

Education

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield Lifeboat Foundation Bios Baroness Susan Greenfield

Susan Adele Greenfield was born to a Jewish father and a Christian mother in Hammersmith, London. Her mother, Doris (née Thorp), was a dancer, and her father, Reginald Myer Greenfield, was an electrician.

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield Susan Greenfield launches legal action against Royal

She attended the Godolphin and Latymer School, where she took A levels in Latin, Greek and ancient history, and maths. The first member of her immediate family to go to university, she was initially admitted to St Hilda's College to read Philosophy and Psychology, but changed course and graduated with a first-class degree in experimental psychology. As a Senior Scholar at St Hugh's College, Oxford, she completed her DPhil degree in 1977 under the supervision of Anthony David Smith on the Origins of acetylcholinesterase in cerebrospinal fluid.

She then held a junior research fellowship at Green College, Oxford between 1981 and 1984.

Career

Greenfield's research is focused on brain physiology, particularly on the brain mechanisms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, but she is also known as a populariser of science. Greenfield has written a range of books about the brain, regularly gives public lectures, and appears on radio and television.

Since 1976, Greenfield has published some 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including studies on the basic brain mechanisms involved in addiction and reward, i.e. relating to dopamine systems and related neurochemicals. She investigated the brain mechanisms underlying Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as well as the impact of environmental enrichment.

In 1994, she was invited to be the first woman to give the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture, then sponsored by the BBC. Her lecture was titled "Journey to the centre of the brain". She was appointed Director of the Royal Institution in 1998. The post was abolished in 2010. The Royal Institution had found itself in a financial crisis following a £22m development programme led by Greenfield and the Board. The project ended £3 million in debt. Greenfield subsequently announced that she would be taking her employers to an employment tribunal and her claim would include discrimination, but the case was settled out of court.

Greenfield's two main posts at Oxford were as Tutorial Fellow in Medicine at Lincoln College Oxford, and Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology. Between 1995 and 1999, she gave public lectures as Gresham Professor of Physic in London. Greenfield was Adelaide's Thinker in Residence for 2004 and 2005.

As a result of her recommendations, South Australian Premier Mike Rann made a major funding commitment, backed by the State and Federal Governments and the private sector, to establish the Royal Institution of Australia and the Australian Science Media Centre in Adelaide.

She has explored the relevance of neuroscience knowledge to education and has used the phrase "mind change", an umbrella term comparable to "climate change", encompassing diverse issues involved in the impact of the 21st-century environment on the brain.

In early 2016, Greenfield was co-author of a series of articles describing a new model for the mechanism of neurodegeneration leading to Alzheimer's disease, and its potential to new treatments.

Politics

Greenfield sits in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the House of Lords as a crossbencher, having no formal political affiliation. Records of Greenfield's activity in the House of Lords indicate abstention on a range of issues. She has spoken on a variety of topics, including education, drugs, and economic empowerment for women.

Books

In 2013, Greenfield published a dystopian science-fiction novel, 2121: A Tale from the Next Century, telling the story of videogame-playing hedonists and their conflict with "Neo-Puritans".

Impact of digital technology controversy

In press interviews, at public speaking events, as well as in her writing, Greenfield has expressed concerns that modern technology, and in particular social networking sites and video games, may have a significant impact on child development as a factor in autistic-like behaviour.

She noted that Public Health England had related social networking and multiplayer online games to "lower levels of wellbeing", and believed that evidence pointed to a "dose-response" relationship, "where each additional hour of viewing increases the likelihood of experiencing socio-emotional problems". She believed this raised questions about where to draw the boundaries between beneficial and harmful use of such technology, saying that "it would be surprising if many hours per day of screen activity did not influence this neuroplasticity".

However, she has been criticised for failing to publish any research into her theories. Ben Goldacre suggested that "a scientist with enduring concerns about a serious widespread risk would normally set out their concerns clearly, to other scientists, in a scientific paper."

In particular, her statements explicitly linking the increase in internet usage to a rise in autism were criticised in a 2015 editorial in the BMJ. Clinical psychologist Vaughan Bell, developmental psychologist Dorothy Bishop and psychologist Andrew Przybylski took Greenfield to task, saying that Greenfield's notion had "no basis in scientific evidence" and was "entirely implausible in light of what we know of autism as a neurodevelopmental condition". They expressed concern that her work could be misleading to parents. In response, Greeenfield wrote a letter to the BMJ referencing peer reviewed studies, and saying that "..."Mind Change" is a book presenting the results of numerous peer reviewed studies in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and epidemiology."

Honours

As of 2016, Greenfield has 32 honorary degrees, and has received awards including the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Prize. She has been elected to an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and the London Science Museum.

In 2006 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association and was the Honorary Australian of the Year.

In January 2000, Greenfield received the CBE for her contribution to the public understanding of science. Later that year, she was named Woman of the Year by The Observer. In 2001, she became a Life Peer under the House of Lords Appointments Commission system, as Baroness Greenfield, of Ot Moor in the County of Oxfordshire. Like the other people's peers she was self-nominated.

In 2003, she was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur by the French Government. In 2010 she was awarded the Australian Society for Medical Research Medal. She received the British Inspiration award for Science and Technology in 2010.

Patronage

She is a patron of Alzheimer's Research UK and of Dignity in Dying. She is a founder and trustee of the charity Science for Humanity, a network of scientists, researchers and technologists that collaborates with non-profits to create practical solutions to the everyday problems of developing communities.

Personal life

Greenfield was married to the University of Oxford Professor Peter Atkins from 1991 until their divorce in 2005.

References

Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield Wikipedia