Joanna Poulton

Joanna Poulton is a British medical researcher, and Professor of Mitochondrial Genetics at the University of Oxford. She is an honorary consultant in Oxford, where she works on diseases caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA. Such mutations are associated with many diseases, including diabetes, organ failure, deafness, and blindness, and are also important in neurodegeneration and aging. Poulton has spoken up on behalf of women in academia, as well as on the effects of neurodiversity on women's careers.

Education and career Poulton is the daughter of the physician and psychologist E. C. Poulton. Her mother, one of the earliest women to study medicine at the University of Cambridge, gained her MD at the age of 90. Poulton credits her parents for having taught her and her siblings a scientific attitude and critical thinking. In 1976, Poulton gained a BA in physiological sciences at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, followed by a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1979. She became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London, in 1982. She was awarded a doctorate in medicine at Oxford in 1991. In 1997, she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, London, and in 2013 was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

Poulton is the author or co-author of over three hundred scientific publications, and her research has been key in the field of mitochondrial genetics. Well into her 50s, Poulton was diagnosed with ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She sought the diagnosis to help explain her perceived disorganisation and relative lack of success in gaining research grants. Her findings helped pave the way for improvements in methods to address mitochondrial disease, including the three-parent-baby approach. More recently, Poulton has addressed potential therapies to alleviate the severity of some mitochondrial diseases.

Poulton has authored or coauthored approximately 300 journal articles and reviews on a range of subjects mostly focused on medical and genetic aspects of mitochondrial disease. Additionally, both in her working life and writings she has addressed the societal aspects of clinical practice and medical research, notably tailoring medical education in a multicultural society. In an article with Iain McLean, she contrasted the UK system of voluntary blood donations with the US system of paying blood suppliers, and commented on the tragic consequences of the latter on the spread of AIDS and other blood-borne diseases. Poulton has also written on the controversial Mitochondrial Eve hypothesis of human evolution, which was based on the variation in the mitochondrial DNA of populations in different continents.

Selected publications