Joanne Stocks
Dr Joanne Stocks is currently working as Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham, in the Department of Orthopaedics, Trauma and Sports Medicine.
As a member of the NIHR Nottingham BRC Musculoskeletal (MSK) theme, she has a research interest in the area of healthy ageing, focusing on the role of nutrition in frailty, osteoarthritis and pain. Joanne is currently developing a cohort to investigate the effect of exercise training and physical activity on gut microbiome diversity in different UK populations and is also the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) lead for the BRC MSK theme.
In addition, Joanne is working on a number of projects as a member of Pain Centre Versus Arthritis. These include investigating circulating markers of central sensitization in knee osteoarthritis, and a collaboration with the OA Trial Bank to identify placebo responders and predictors of response to osteoarthritis treatment using individual patient data.
Joanne graduated from Leeds University with a BSc (Hons) degree in Sports Science and Physiology. She obtained a PhD in Respiratory Medicine from the University of Nottingham, where her research investigated the ‘Production of soluble angiogenic factors by airway smooth muscle’. This research was a continuation of a molecular and cellular research project begun during her Oncology MSc degree (University of Nottingham).
Following her PhD Joanne worked for a biotechnology company, developing and optimising a directed chemotherapy assay. Alongside this role, she continued working at the University of Nottingham in the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health on a number of projects, which included assessing the impact of the National Schools Fruit Scheme on the health and diet of children and investigating the effectiveness of smoking intervention programs.
Joanne then began researching cardiac stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, focusing on the cellular and molecular responses of the heart to exercise at Liverpool John Moore’s University. She then transferred to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, New York to continue investigating the dedifferentiation of adult cardiomyocytes and the protective paracrine effects of cardiac progenitor cells on cultured adult myocytes.
On her return to the UK, Joanne was involved in a variety of basic science, epidemiological and clinical research projects at the University of Nottingham and Loughborough University.
Joanne is co-moderator of the Community Participation sub-group as part of the Covid-19 WG.