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Profile – Dr Dylan Williams, University College London

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30/04/2024

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Dr Dylan Williams

Name:

Dr Dylan Williams

Job Title:

Principal Research Fellow

Place of work / study:

MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL

Area of Research:

Neuro-epidemiology

How is your research funded:

MRC, Alzheimer’s Society, BHF, Open Philanthropy

Tell us a little about yourself:

I’m a mid-career molecular epidemiologist investigating the causes of neurodegenerative diseases. Outside work, I parent two young children, so I no longer have hobbies.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself:

In another lifetime, I might have been a music journalist for a living — as a student, I wrote for the NME briefly

Why did you choose to work in dementia research?

Experience of relatives being affected by dementia. As a newly minted postdoc some years ago, I was also struck by the lack of progress in dementia research relative to strides made in cancer and cardiovascular medicine in the last 70 years, so it struck me as an area of great importance that I could contribute more to.

What single piece of advice would you give to an early career researcher?

Ask yourself what are absolutely the most important questions you could answer with your research, and focus on addressing those. Anything else is a distraction.

What book are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?

East of Eden by John Steinbeck — work of genius & Where Memories Go by Sally Magnusson — beautiful but heartbreaking, invaluable reading for dementia researchers

Favourite film of all time?

I’m going to flex slightly and pick the Before trilogy — 20 years & hopefully more in the making!

Favourite ways to unplug and unwind?

Listening to 6Music, sauna (artifact of having lived in Sweden), trail running on nice days, reading, film, pretending to be a teenage mutant ninja turtle with my son, suffering through Nottingham Forest matches on TV