Frances M Cowan

Frances Cowan is a perinatal neurologist. She researches the causes, diagnosis and treatment of perinatal brain injury, including the use of hypothermia to treat babies deprived of oxygen during birth. She developed the Hammersmith Neurological Examination Scheme, which is used around the world. In 2018 she was awarded the James Spence Medal by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Education and career

Cowan has a PhD from the University of Oslo. She holds a visiting professor position at the University of Bristol, is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Perinatal Neurology at Imperial College London. Cowan was part of a Bristol University team, led by Professor Marianne Thoresen, that showed that oxygen-deprived babies that were provided with cooling therapy were less likely to develop epilepsy later in life.

Cowan is a scientific advisor for the Lothian Birth-Cohort studies, at the University of Edinburgh, and has trained researchers in Uganda and Armenia on the use of hypothermic treatment for brain injury in babies.

Recognition

In 2018, Cowan was awarded the James Spence Medal by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health "for her contribution to clinical and academic perinatal neurology".

Selected publications