MRC Clinician-Scientist Fellow and Honorary Consultant Neurologist - Neurosciences and Mental Health Research Institute, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University

Dr Kathryn Peall has a longstanding interest in the ‘non-motor’ or ‘non-movement’ related symptoms linked with dystonia, as well as the mechanisms that underpin dystonic disorders more widely.

Kathryn first became interested in dystonia during her PhD when she travelled the country interviewing people diagnosed with myoclonus dystonia. The focus of her work at the time was whether mood related symptoms, particularly anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, were linked with myoclonus dystonia and other dystonic disorders. This has lead onto more laboratory-based work, investigating the genetic and cellular mechanisms that underpin dystonia.

In Cardiff, Kathryn and her team continue to be interested in the non-motor symptoms linked with dystonia (mood, memory, sleep, pain and quality of life), and have recently set up an electronic-based system to investigate these symptoms in more detail. Their aim ultimately is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the symptoms involved in dystonia, and to develop model systems that allow identification of new treatments and therapies.