Dr. Emma van der Westhuizen is a Senior Research Officer at St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research. She received her BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and her PhD from Monash University (Australia). She has completed post-doctoral research at the University of Montreal (Canada) and at Monash University (Australia), as an independently funded post-doctoral scholar (NHMRC, Australia; CIHR, Canada; FRSQ, Canada). Emma designs novel therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative diseases, within a collaborative multidisciplinary team. Emma strives to bridge the gap between research capabilities and clinical possibilities, by translating lead compounds from the developmental and experimental phases through to pre-clinical and clinical use.