Clare Elwell

Clare Elwell
Alma mater	University of Exeter BSc. MPhil. University College London (PhD)
Awards	Melvin H. Kniseley International Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Oxygen Transport to Tissue (1995) Suffrage Science Award (2013) Inspirational Teacher Award, UK (2014) Women in Science and Engineering Research Award (2016)
Scientific career
Institutions	University College London
Thesis	Measurement and Data Analysis Techniques for the Investigation of Adult Cerebral Haemodynamics  (1995)
Doctoral advisor	Mark Cope David Delpy
Website	www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys/contacts/people/celwell

Education and Career

Elwell was awarded a BSc. in Physics and Medical Physics at the University of Exeter in 1988. She remained in Exeter to work as a Clinical Physicist in Devon and Exeter Hospital, obtaining a MPhil in 1991 researching measurements in the diagnosis and treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. She left her job as a clinical physicist to work as a research fellow in the groundbreaking neonatal intensive care research team at the Paediatrics Department of University College London. This team had made the first magnetic resonance scans of the newborn human brain, but were now keen to develop new methods that could be used cotside away from the magnet. Elwell worked under David Delpy and Mark Cope testing novel non invasive tools that used near infrared light (NIRS) to measure newborn brain function in the neonatal intensive care unit. During this period she also worked part time on her own research project, trialling the use of equipment with the potential to measure blood flow in the adult brain during surgery. In 1995 this work led to the award of a PhD and the Melvin H. Kniseley International Young Scientist Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Oxygen Transport to Tissue. In 1996 she won a Medical Research Council Non Clinical Research Training Fellowship in the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering at University College London, moving to Lecturer (1999) and Senior Lecturer (2005) positions in the same department. In 2008 she became a Professor of Medical Physics and in 2016 she won the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Research Award .

Research

Elwell has led a number of interdisciplinary teams developing novel optical methods for monitoring tissue oxygen status in brain and muscle. Research projects have included studies of brain development, acute brain injury in adults and infants, sports performance, paediatric cardiology, malaria, infant brain development and malnutrition. She has pioneered the development of the novel optical method of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). This is transforming how, where and when the human brain can be imaged in preterm infants, young children and adults. Her current research in the adult brain has the potential to inform the management of patients with acute brain injury in intensive care. In children, NIRS is providing potential early markers of autism. Elwell is also the lead investigator in the Brain Imaging for Global HealTh (BRIGHT) research project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. BRIGHT investigates the impact of malnutrition on early infant brain development and recently reported the first ever imaging of the infant brain in Africa.

Public Engagement

Elwell is committed to engaging the public in her research with a particular emphasis on enthusing young aspiring scientists via talks and demonstrations at schools and science festivals.  She won the University College London (UCL) provost Public Engagement Award in 2011 and the UCL Engineering Engager of the Year Award in 2018. In 2018 she became a British Science Association Media Fellow, seconded to the Financial Times, London.

Women in Science

Elwell won the Medical Research Council Science Suffrage Award in 2013 and the UK Inspirational Teacher Award for Women in 2014. She was one of the featured scientists in the Royal Society’s Mothers in Science Project - 64 ways to have it all.

Administration

Elwell was President of the International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue (ISOTT) in 2014, President of the Society for Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (SfNIRS) in 2016 and President of the London International Youth Science Forum in 2017. She is a founder and Trustee of the Young Scientists for Africa (YoSA) Charity.