We are delighted to announce a new award to support career development of young scientists.
The first Ann Hunt Career Development Award to will support a PhD student working with Professor Petrus de Vries, formerly in Cambridge and now at the University of Cape Town, South AfricaLoren Leclezio is the first recipient of the Ann Hunt Career Development Award for her PhD project Understanding and Treating TSC-Associated Neuropsychiatric Disorders (TAND) through which she aims to improve understanding of how TSC affects learning, behavioural, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric difficulties in individuals with the disorder, and how best to monitor and treat these problems. The research will include families from around the world, including the UK.
The award was made possible by a legacy from the estate of Ann Hunt MBE who died in June 2014, aged 75. Inspired by her son, James, who had tuberous sclerosis and sadly died at the age of 13, Ann co-founded the Tuberous Sclerosis Association in 1977 and became a lifelong advocate for people with rare genetic conditions and stimulated research into those conditions.
Prof Petrus de Vries said:
“We were delighted with the news of a studentship to Loren for her work on TAND, but it was a particular pleasure and enormous honour that Loren was named as the first Ann Hunt Career Development Award winner. I knew Ann very well, and was hugely influenced by her in my early career. So, it is with profound gratitude and a real sense of continuity that I will mentor Loren’s PhD project.”
