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Professor Gordon Wilcock

Gordon Wilcock qualified in medicine in Oxford, and after junior posts in Oxford, Cambridge and the Hammersmith Hospital, was appointed to a Consultant post in Oxford. In 1984 he moved to Bristol, to take up the Chair in Care of the Elderly at the University of Bristol. He returned to Oxford in June 2006 where he is a Professor of Clinical Geratology. In 2006 he was also awarded an honorary DSc degree by the University of the West of England, and the Dhole-Eddlestone Memorial Prize by the British Geriatric Society (awarded every two years for outstanding contributions to the literature on medical care of the elderly).

Professor Wilcock has been involved in Alzheimer's disease research since the late seventies. He was the founder chairman of the Alzheimer's Disease Society (now the Alzheimer's Society) of which he was the Chairman from 1979 to 1986, and he is currently a Vice-President of the Society. Until January 1999 he was Chairman of the Society's Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel.

His early research in Alzheimer's disease explored the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease and its relation to the clinical presentation and also the neurochemical changes. He established an internationally renowned research programme in Bristol, that spanned the spectrum from molecular genetics in the laboratory at one end to the patient and carer at the other. His work in Oxford is concentrating on translating basic scientific knowledge about Alzheimer's disease into the clinical setting, especially in relation to new treatments and diagnosis. Professor Wilcock has collaborative research projects with a number of other centres, in the United Kingdom and abroad.

He was the Editor of "Age and Ageing" from January 2002 until April 2007, and is an editorial board member of a number of other journals.

Professor Wilcock's books include publications about geriatric medicine and the dementias, especially Alzheimer's disease, for both professional and lay readers. He co-edited "Diagnosis and Management of Dementia: a Manual for Memory Disorders Teams", published by Oxford University Press, and wrote "Living with Alzheimer's Disease" published by Penguin , a guide for families and professional carers of those with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. He has also had numerous papers published in medical and scientific journals.