Lavinia Codd PhD, BSc Hons, BCom

Dr Lavinia Codd, PhD, BSc Hons, BCom, is a postdoctoral researcher at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and stroke survivor, who at the age of 31 was a mother and part-time science degree student and former accountant. But at 31, with two small children, 3 years and 11 months, she suffered a stroke. She has no visible indicators of stroke but suffered damage to parts of her brain critical for forming new memories and also vision, resulting in major impacts on her learning, spatial memory, and navigation, as well as a loss of her left field of vision. Lavinia resumed her Bachelor of Science to drive her cognitive recovery, going on to complete her PhD in Professor Bartlett’s laboratory at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute.

She is investigating ways of improving recovery after stroke by activating precursor cells to increase the production of new neurons. Her aim is to translate laboratory findings into new behavioural and pharmacological approaches to restore cognitive functions in human stroke survivors.