Claire Clelland, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

Dr. Clelland, PhD, MD, MPhil, is an Assistant Professor in the UCSF Department of Neurology. As a neurologist, she specializes in caring for patients with dementia and cognitive symptoms at the UCSF Memory & Aging Center. Her lab at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences develops novel therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

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Her current work centers on creating novel CRISPR gene therapies for genetic forms of neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Her lab utilizes patient iPSCs to model disease, advanced sequencing technologies and cutting-edge CRISPR technologies to develop first-in-class gene therapies for CNS diseases. The Clelland lab is committed to promoting equity and justice in science in medicine. One of the pillars of the Clelland lab is the mentoring and advancement of trainees from underrepresented backgrounds to become the next generation of scientific leaders.

Awards

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  • New Investigator Award, Alzheimer’s Association & NACC, 2024
  • Grass Foundation Award in Neuroscience, American Neurological Association (ANA), 2024
  • QB3 Defeating Dementia Prize, Bakar Labs, 2023
  • Therapeutics Prize, Equalize (National Women Academic Entrepreneurs), 2023
  • Outstanding Mentoring Award, Gladstone Institues, 2022
  • School of Medicine Dean’s Commendation for Exceptional Volunteerism and Community Service for, UCSF, 2021
  • Weill Award for Clinician-Scientists in the Neurosciences, UCSF, 2021
  • Clinician Scientist Fellowship, Alzheimer’s Association, 2017-2020
  • Richard D. Walter Award for Excellence in Neurology, UCLA Department of Neurology, 2013
  • Marshall Scholarship, UK Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, British Parliament, 2006-2008
  • Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Fellowship, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, 2005-2013

Education & Training

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  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California 2021
  • Neurology Residency University of California, San Francisco 06/2017
  • Medicine Internship University of California, San Francisco 06/2014
  • M.D. Medicine University of California, Los Angeles 05/2013
  • Ph.D. Neuroscience University of California, San Diego 08/2009
  • M.Phil. Neuroscience University of Cambridge 07/2009

Websites

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Publications (16)

Top publication keywords:
Dentate GyrusC9orf72 ProteinDNA Repeat ExpansionCluster HeadacheCraniocerebral TraumaDiscrimination LearningTauopathiesHypothalamusAmyotrophic Lateral SclerosisHuntington DiseaseFrontotemporal DementiaConnectomeClustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic RepeatsCRISPR-Cas SystemsMicroglia

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