Members

Traumatic brain injury as a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases of aging

Dr. Wellington is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She obtained her PhD in 1991 and held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Medical School, the University of Calgary, and the University of British Columbia, spanning diverse programs including posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression,  regulation, Huntington Disease, and lipoprotein metabolism. As a faculty member, Dr. Wellington has built a unique niche that integrates research on genetic and environmental risk factors for dementia, with particular attention to metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, cerebrovascular dysfunction, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). A major contribution to the TBI field includes the development of a novel animal model, known as CHIMERA (Closed Head Impact Model of Engineered Rotational Acceleration) of diffuse axonal injury that is particularly relevant for studies on the mechanisms of concussion. Dr. Wellington has published over 70 primary research papers, trained over 30 junior scientists in a dynamic multidisciplinary environment, and has contributed to workshops held by the National Institutes of Neurodegenerative Disease and Stroke, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Alzheimer’s Association, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) on innovative ways to understand dementia. She is a Team Leader within the Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration in Aging, Canada’s lead basic scientist in the Biomarkers Working Group of the International Traumatic Brain Injury Research Consortium, and Co-Principal Investigator in the Canadian Traumatic Brain Injury Research Consortium. Her studies are supported by the Weston Brain Institute, CIHR, Bright Focus, Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.