Louise Nicholson

Louise Frances Basford Nicholson (nee Green) is a New Zealand neuroscientist, and is professor emerita at the University of Auckland, specialising in molecular mechanisms common to neurodegenerative diseases. In 2021, Nicholson was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to neuroscience and education.

Academic career

Nicholson attended Epsom Girls Grammar School. She completed a Masters and then a PhD titled Structure and function of the Malpighian tubules of the larva of the New Zealand glow-worm Arachnocampa luminosa (Skuse) at the University of Auckland. Nicholson spent two and half years as a visiting fellow at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, and then returned to New Zealand, where she taught science at Mahurangi College from 1981 to 1988. Nicholson then joined the faculty of the Department of Anatomy with Radiology at the University of Auckland, initially as a senior lecturer. The facility is funded by the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust.

Honours and awards Nicholson was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1978 to attend Lady Margaret Hall as a Visiting Fellow for two years. Only 32 Rhodes Visiting Fellowships were awarded.

In the New Years Honours for 2021, Nicholson was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to neuroscience and education.

Selected works