In 1979 Shaw graduated with first class honours in medicine from the University of Newcastle and was awarded several prizes during her undergraduate degree. She subsequently undertook further training in neurology at Newcastle, worked towards the award of Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom and was awarded an MD degree in 1988. Her doctoral work was on the neurological and neuropsychological complications of coronary bypass surgery.[1]
She specialises in the "molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and neuroprotection in disorders of the motor system (motor neurone disease and HSP)".[3]
Since 1991, long-term funding from the Wellcome Trust has supported her research group to study the source of neurodegenerative disorders of the human motor system. They have been able to implicate various subcellular pathways and cellular features in susceptibility. In addition, they have screened candidates for potential treatment for these disorders. This work contributed to evidence underpinning the use of riluzole in motor neurone disease.[1]
In 1997 she was appointed Professor of Neurological Medicine at the University of Newcastle and in 2000 she moved to the University of Sheffield as Professor of Neurology.[1] She developed training and research in clinical neuroscience at Sheffield, building on the excellent clinical expertise in the department.[3]
Shaw has been chair of the Clinical Research and Academic Committee of the Association of British Neurologists.[3]
