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• PhD ‘Force Generating Capacity of Human Muscle’, Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) 1988

•  MSc. (Human and Applied Physiology), University of London King's College, 1982

• BSc. Hons (Physiology) 2:1, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1981

Carolyn is a physiologist and a translational scientist with an overarching interest in the responsiveness of human muscle to use, disuse, atrophy and ageing. Her basic science training allows her to translate primary research findings into the design and conduct of interventions (physical activity/ exercise/ pharma) to improve musculoskeletal health. After graduating from the University of Newcastle (BSc Physiology) and the University of London King’s College (MSc Human and Applied Physiology), Carolyn initially worked with younger athletes (PhD funded by the Sports Council of Great Britain) before moving into postdoctoral research with a focus on exercise and muscle function in older adults, within University Departments of Geriatric Medicine in London (1988-1992) and Edinburgh (2000-2012 following a career break). Carolyn secured a Research into Ageing (now AgeUK) research fellowship in 2003, which enabled her to develop her research with a diverse range of older adults, investigating their muscle health and associated functional ability/ physical performance in response to exercise. Carolyn’s major interests since taking up her post at the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡ focus on the use of combined interventions; physical activity (resistance exercise training/ reducing sitting time) and nutritional supplementation (vitamin D3/ fish oil/ protein/ essential amino acids) to mitigate the adverse functional consequences of sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass and function), and frailty on physical and cognitive performance in older age. She is the Interventions theme co-lead for the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research. As Deputy lead of the Institute for Global Innovation’s Ageing, Frailty and Resilience theme, Carolyn is also active internationally, with ongoing collaborative projects in Brazil, Rwanda, Pakistan and Burkina Faso.

Carolyn contributes to a number of BSc and MSci modules within SportexR. She is a team member for the Y1 Becoming a Researcher module and Y4 Interdisciplinary Research and Impact module. She is currently an External Examiner for the University of Loughborough.

Carolyn has supervised/ co-supervised 5 doctoral students to completion and currently supervises a further 10 students as well as MSc/ MRes students. 

Carolyn’s research is focussed on sarcopenia and frailty and in particular, optimising maintenance and improvement of muscle mass and function in older healthy men and women and in frail patient groups (including upper GI cancer, stroke). She has a keen interest in the following areas: skeletal muscle responsiveness to physical activity/ nutritional/ pharmacological interventions; molecular, biochemical and functional (imaging) biomarker discovery and evaluation; measurement of muscle protein synthesis; direct monitoring of physical activity; physiological and psychological responses to sedentariness and the development of interventions to reduce sitting time

Current projects:

1. Investigating barriers to protein intake and protein responsiveness in frail older adults living in nursing homes (MRC-Versus Arthritis funded studentship)
2. Sarcopenia evaluation project and interventions to maintain muscle health in patients with chronic inflammatory diseases (NIHR Birmingham BRC Inflammation; Sarcopenia theme PI)
3. A Dehydroepiandrosterone and Pharmacokinetics in Trauma study (ADaPT)
4. Influence of exercise and fish oil supplementation on body composition and functional ability in healthy older women (collaboration with Prof Eduardo Ferriolli, USP, Brazil funded by UoB/FAPESP)

Within the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡, Carolyn co-leads the interventions theme for the MRC-Versus Arthritis UK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research. She co-Chairs the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡ STEM Research Ethics Committee and is the College of Life and Environmental Sciences Director of Research Integrity, Ethics and Governance.

Carolyn has a number of external roles, including membership of the Chief Medical Officer UK Physical Activity Guidelines update: Older Adults panel. She is an active member of the UK Physiological Society and most recently has served as a member of the Society’s Meetings Committee. She is also a member of the British Geriatrics Society. In addition, Carolyn acts as reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed journals and national and international funding bodies.