This week, Professor Chrystalina Antoniades (Governing Body Fellow, Cellular Life) received a Suffrage Science Award, presented at a ceremony on 9 March in Oxford University’s Science Area.
She was recognised for her internationally leading research that transforming how neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, are diagnosed and monitored. Her work is improving the lives of patients worldwide, fundamentally changing how professionals in the field evaluate new therapies, and helping to inform more personalised approaches to treatment.
Professor Antoniades is based at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. Alongside her research, she is committed to supporting early career researchers and to engaging patients and the wider public in conversations about neuroscience, building trust in science.
She spoke on the collective nature of scientific progress when accepting the award:
Listening to everyone tonight and meeting so many incredible scientists, a thought often attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle comes to my mind: "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." To me, that captures something essential about science and our community. Progress (and I am referring to meaningful and positive progress) happens when people share ideas, support one another, and work together.
I feel very fortunate to be part of this community, and I’m deeply grateful for this recognition.
Professor Antoniades was among 11 awardees honoured this year. The Suffrage Science scheme now connects almost 200 holders of its heirlooms awards, forming a global network of scientific leaders who nominate future recipients. In this way, each heirloom forms its own 'family tree'; she was nominated by Lynn Rochester, continuing this tradition of peer recognition.
Originally established to celebrate pioneering women in the life sciences, the awards have since expanded to include engineering, the physical sciences, mathematics and computing.
