Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield

Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, Template:Postnominals<ref name="baroness">Template:Cite web</ref> (born 1 October 1950) is an English scientist, writer, broadcaster and member of the House of Lords (since 2001). Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. She is also interested in the neuroscience of consciousness<ref>Private Life of the Brain (2000) Template:Webarchive, susangreenfield.com; accessed 5 April 2016.</ref> and the impact of technology on the brain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Greenfield is a senior research fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford;<ref name="pharma">University of Oxford> Department of Pharmacology> Baroness Susan Greenfield Template:Webarchive Accessed 12 June 2015.</ref> she was a professor of Synaptic Pharmacology.Template:Citation needed

Greenfield was chancellor of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh between 2005 and 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 1998 to 2010, she was director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.<ref name="times">Template:Cite news</ref> In September 2013, she co-founded the biotech company Neuro-bio Ltd, where she is chief executive officer.

Early life

Greenfield's mother, Doris (née Thorp), was a dancer and a Christian, and her father, Reginald Myer Greenfield, was an electrician who was the son of a Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrant from Austria; her grandmothers never spoke to each other and she said of them, "the prejudice was equally vociferous on both sides".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=guardian2004>Template:Cite news</ref>

Education

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.<ref name=guardian2004/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As a Senior Scholar at St Hugh's College, Oxford,<ref name="bc">Template:Cite web</ref> she completed her DPhil degree in 1977 under the supervision of Anthony David Smith on the Origins of acetylcholinesterase in cerebrospinal fluid.<ref name="greenfieldphd">Template:Cite thesis</ref>

She then held a junior research fellowship at Green College, Oxford between 1981 and 1984.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Greenfield at Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament; 2013

Greenfield's research is focused on brain physiology, particularly on the brain mechanisms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. She is also known for her role in popularising science. Greenfield has written several books about the brain, regularly gives public lectures, and appears on radio and television.<ref>Template:IMDb name</ref>

Since 1976, Greenfield has published approximately 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including studies on brain mechanisms involved in addiction and reward,<ref name=functionaldomains>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="dopaminerelease">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=neurotoxic>Template:Cite journal</ref> relating to dopamine systems and other neurochemicals.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="doi10.1111/j.1471-4159.2008.05646.x|noedit">Template:Cite journal</ref> She investigated the brain mechanisms underlying attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)<ref name="doi10.1111/j.1471-4159.2008.05646.x|noedit"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> as well as the impact of environmental enrichment.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1994, she was the first woman to give the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, then sponsored by the BBC. Her lectures were titled "Journey to the centre of the brain".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was appointed Director of the Royal Institution in 1998.<ref>Profile Template:Webarchive, rigb.org; accessed 5 April 2016.</ref> The post was abolished in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Greenfield subsequently announced that she would be taking her employers to an employment tribunal and her claim would include discrimination.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The case was settled out of court.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Greenfield's two main positions at Oxford were Tutorial Fellow in Medicine at Lincoln College Oxford,<ref name="pharma"/> and Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology.Template:Citation needed 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As a result of her recommendations,Template:Citation needed 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.<ref>$15m to form Royal Institution of Australia The Advertiser, 15 May 2009; accessed 10 September 2014.</ref>

She has explored the relevance of neuroscience knowledge to education<ref name="doi10.1177/1073858409356111|noedit">Template:Cite journal</ref> and has used the phrase "mind change",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> an umbrella term comparable to "climate change", encompassing diverse issues involved in the impact of the 21st-century environment on the brain.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2013 she co-founded the biotech company Neuro-Bio Ltd which develops diagnostic tests and therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease. The company has found that the C terminus of acetylcholinesterase can be cleaved and that the resulting peptide can kill neurons; the company has also found that a cyclic peptide analogue could prevent that neuronal death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The company raised around $4 million in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Politics

Greenfield in 2013

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

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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, Greenfield published a popular science book called Mind Change: How Digital Technologies are Leaving their Mark on our Brains, describing her ideas about the impact of digital technology.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Impact of digital technology controversy

Template:Anchor Greenfield has expressed concerns that internet usage may modify the brain structures of youngsters.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

She has had controversy surrounding her opinions on the relationship between technology use and Autism Spectrum Disorder. She originally linked the increase in Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis to increased screen-time in a 2011 New Scientist article,.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She defended this claim in 2014, in an interview with Stephen Sackur, on the BBC show HARDTalk, in which she claims to have collated 500 articles "in support of the possible problematic effects" of technology-use.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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".<ref name="Bell h3064">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Honours

As of 2016, Greenfield has 32 honorary degrees;<ref>Profile, theaustralian.com.au; accessed 5 April 2016.</ref> 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<ref name="Rigb.org">Template:Cite web</ref> and the London Science Museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2006 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was the Honorary Australian of the Year.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In January 2000, Greenfield received a CBE<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> for her contribution to the public understanding of science.<ref name="baroness"/> Later that year, she was named Woman of the Year<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> by The Observer. In 2001, she became a Life Peer under the House of Lords Appointments Commission system,<ref name="theguardian.com">Template:Cite news</ref> as Baroness Greenfield, of Ot Moor, Oxfordshire.<ref name="baroness"/><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Like the other people's peers she was self-nominated.<ref name="theguardian.com"/>

In 2003, she was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour by the French Government.<ref name="Rigb.org"/> In 2010 she was awarded the Australian Society for Medical Research Medal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She received the British Inspiration award for Science and Technology in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Patronage

She is a patron of Alzheimer's Research UK<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and of Dignity in Dying.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She is a founder and trustee of the charity Science for Humanity, a network of scientists, researchers and technologists that collaborates with not-for-profit organisations to create practical solutions to the everyday problems of developing communities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Greenfield was married to the University of Oxford professor Peter Atkins from 1991 until their divorce in 2005.<ref name="ind08">Template:Cite news</ref>

Bibliography

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Further reading

• Screen culture may be changing our brains Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The 7.30 Report, 19 March 2009.
• 'Stumbling into a Powerful Technology' (Address to the House of Lords), 20 April 2006.

External links

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