Roger Lemon PhD FMedSci
Roger Lemon is Sobell Professor of Neurophysiology at the UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square. He is a Fellow and past Council Member of the Academy of Medical Science. His main research interest is the control of skilled hand movements by the brain and is prompted by the need to understand why hand and finger movements are particularly affected by damage to the cortex, and its major descending pathways, for instance as a result ofstroke or in spinal injury.
His experiments involve the use of purpose-bred non-human primates, since these provide the best available model for the human sensorimotor system controlling the hand. He has carried out parallel studies in normal human volunteers and has sought to apply the knowledge gained from his work in monkeys to the effects of stroke on hand function in patients, to understand the process of recovery and to investigate therapies that might enhance recovery. He is actively engaged in the public dialogue on the responsible use of animals in biomedical research.