Dr Maria Ashioti
I am currently a senior lecturer in the department of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster. My academic career began when I completed my undergraduate degree in Human Physiology at the University of Greenwich with a first class honours in 2002. During the final year of my degree, I developed a keen interest in neuroscience and in particular stroke research and decided to continue within academia. I undertook a MSc in Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London and achieved a distinction in 2003. My research interest in the field of neuroprotection for ischaemic stroke began to develop further and I embarked upon a PhD in 2003 within the department of pre-clinical MRI at the Institute of Psychiatry. I completed my PhD in 2008 entitled 'A multimodal approach to assessing the neuroprotective efficacy of a novel 5-HT1A agonist in preclinical models of transient cerebral ischaemia'. I remained within the department for a few months as a postdoctoral researcher before accepting a position as a lecturer at the University of Westminster. In 2011, I achieved the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and become a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am also the quality coordinator for the department of life sciences.