Stephen "Steve" Dunnett DSc FMedSci

FLSW The Learned Society of Wales () is a national academy, learned society and Charitable organization, charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the W ...

(born 28 January 1950Dunnett, Stephen B.

ISIHighlyCited.com The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

Accessed 2 September 2009.) is a British

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

, and among the most

highly cited researcher Highly Cited Researchers is a list published annually by Clarivate of academic authors whose publications have received particularly high numbers of citations in academic journals indexed by ''Web of Science The Web of Science (WoS; previou ...

s in the neurosciences. Until his retirement in 2017, he was a professor at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

and the founder and co-director of the Brain Repair Group, where he worked on developing cell therapies for

neurodegenerative disease A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Neuronal damage may also ultimately result in their death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, mul ...

s including

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

and

Huntington's disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is an incurable neurodegenerative disease that is mostly Genetic disorder#Autosomal dominant, inherited. It typically presents as a triad of progressive psychiatric, cognitive, and ...

.The Brain Repair Group
Cardiff University. Retrieved 2 September 2009.

Early life and education

Dunnett was born in London, where he attended

Eltham College Eltham College is a private day school situated in Mottingham, southeast London. Eltham and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. It is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Early history ...

, an independent school, then won an open

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

to study Mathematics at

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

. After graduating in 1972, he worked for several years as social worker in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council ...

. He returned to university to study for a second

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in psychology at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

, London, from where he graduated in 1978 with the prize for the top

first class degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

in the Faculty of Sciences. Dunnett then returned to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1978 as a research student at

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

and was awarded a PhD in

experimental psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

in 1981.Prof Steve Dunnett: Biography
Cardiff University. Retrieved 2 September 2009.

Academic career

After a brief spell as a visiting research scientist at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

in 1981-2, Dunnett returned to Cambridge, he was a lecturer and reader in the Department of Experimental Psychology,

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of Clare College from 1984 onwards, and from 1992 to 1999 he was Director of Scientific Programmes at the Medical Research Council Centre for Brain Repair. He moved to Cardiff University in 2000, where he is a full professor in the neuroscience division of the School of Biosciences. He directs the Brain Repair Group, focussing on development of novel cell based therapies for neurodegenerative disease. For many years, Dunnett was editor in chief of ''

Brain Research Bulletin ''Brain Research Bulletin'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering neuroscience. It was established in 1976 with Matthew J. Wayner (then at Syracuse University) as founding editor in chief. Later it was edited by Stephen Dunnett (Cardiff ...

''. He retired to France in 2017 but retains an emeritus appointment with Cardiff University.

Awards and honours

In 1988, the

British Psychological Society The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. History It was founded on 24 October 1901 at University College London (UCL) as ''The Psychological Society'', the org ...

awarded Dunnett the

Spearman Medal The Spearman Medal was an early-career award of the British Psychological Society's Research Board, given in recognition of outstanding published work in psychology which represented a significant body of work in terms of theoretical contributions, ...

for outstanding published work by an early-career researcher. He became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

the next year, of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...

in 2003, and of the

Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales () is a national academy, learned society and Charitable organization, charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the W ...

in 2011. He was the Knight Visiting Professor at the

University of Miami School of Medicine The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, officially Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, is the University of Miami's graduate medical school in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1952, it is the oldest medical school in the state of Florida. ...

in 1992. Dunnett has also been awarded the Alfred Mayer medal of the

British Neuropathological Society The British Neuropathological Society is a professional organisation dedicated to the science of neuropathology. It is one of several national societies composed of neuropathologists. These national groups are members of the International Society o ...

(1998) and Honorary Fellowship of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (2002).

Books

Books that Dunnett has co-authored or co-edited include: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunnett, Stephen 1950 births Living people British neuroscientists Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge Academics of Cardiff University Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge People educated at Eltham College Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales