People
Professor Lynn Rochester
Lynn is a Professor of Human Movement Science at Newcastle University, UK in the Translational and Clinical Research Institute. She is also a National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator (2020-2024; 2024-2028) and co-leads the Digital Health Theme in the NIHR-BRC based in Newcastle.
She graduated as a physiotherapist in 1983 and completed her PhD in 1992 in translational neuroscience. Her main research interests are in gait and mobility loss in neurodegenerative disease and ageing. Her work focuses on motor and non-motor mechanisms of gait and falls, surrogate markers of neurodegenerative disease and disease progression (in particular cognitive decline and fall risk), development and evaluation of novel interventions, and technological applications in healthcare using digital technology.
Lynn established and leads the Brain and Movement Research Group (BAM) (https://www.bam-ncl.co.uk) which comprises a diverse multidisciplinary team of clinical scientists, psychologists, data scientists and clinical engineers. She is the Co-ordinator for the Mobilise-D consortium (https://www.mobilise-d.eu/) funded through the EU IMIJ2 to develop and validate real-world digital mobility biomarkers. She serves on the International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society Task Force on Technology; the MJ Fox Foundation Endpoints Advisory Board and the UK Biobank Dementia working group.
Previously, Lynn led the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) Speciality Cluster E (2018-2021), where she had strategic oversight of the NIHR research portfolio in ageing, dementia, neurodegeneration, neurological disorders and genetics, and led national projects to optimise the research delivery in the UK such as NIHR-INCLUDE (https://sites.google.com/nihr.ac.uk/include/home). She served as Director of the Clinical Ageing Research Unit (2016-2019) - a translational experimental clinical research facility aimed at ageing.
Lynn currently co-leads the Digital Health, Ageing Innovation and Digital Inclusion theme for the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (https://www.newcastlebrc.nihr.ac.uk). She is the Co-ordinator for the Mobilise-D consortium (https://www.mobilise-d.eu/) (2019-2024) - a €50 million EU innovative medicines initiatives (IMI) public/private consortium, developing digital endpoints for real-world mobility assessment and the Deputy Director for TORUS, an EPSRC Programme Grant (2023-2028).
Lynn also serves on the International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society (MDS) Task Force on Technology, the MJ Fox Foundation Endpoints Advisory Group, the UK Biobank Dementia Working Group and, is a member of the Healthcare Professions Special Interest Group (MDS). She has a broad portfolio of research funding from charities, research councils and industry. Her work has a translational impact, being incorporated into guidelines for Parkinson’s care and Dementia.