Ingrid Allen
Ingrid Victoria Allen, was a Northern Irish neuropathologist. She was a Professor Emerita of Neuropathology at Queen's University Belfast. She is mostly known for her research in pathology, neurodegeneration, neurovirology and demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.
Education and early life
Allen was born in Belfast in 1932. Her parents were the Reverend Robert Allen and Doris Allen. She attended Ashley Prep Belfast and Cheltenham Ladies College before going on to study medicine at Queen's University Belfast, graduating in 1957.Career and research
Allen established the Regional Neuropathology Service for Northern Ireland in 1972, becoming its first leader. This provided biopsies and autopsies for conditions such as brain tumours, head injuries, brain infections, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. She has published over 200 papers, spanning over 60 years. Her work is focused chiefly on multiple sclerosis, viral infections of the nervous system and penetrating head injury. Her research achievements include discovering markers for multiple sclerosis at the cellular and molecular level, research into the role of viruses in multiple sclerosis, the observation that measles virus spreads transneuronally and probably transsynaptically within the nervous system and research into the cellular level response to penetrating head injury.Allen was Vice President of the Royal College of Pathologists from 1993 to 1996, and in 1997 was appointed the first Director for Research and Development for Health and Personal Social Services in Northern Ireland. In this role, she was responsible for developing the research strategy “Research for Health and Wellbeing”, published in 1999. She held this role until 2002. She has also served on the Medical [Research Council |Medical Research Council] and on the Joint Medical Advisory Committee of the Higher Education [Funding Council for England].