Julia Townson

Julia Townson is a Principal Research Fellow at Cardiff University. She has over 15 years of experience in research relating to type 1 diabetes (T1D). She collaborates on a range of T1D studies, that include clinical trials, and screening for pre-clinical T1D. Much of her work has been concerned with promoting an earlier diagnosis of T1D in childhood, leading to the completion of her PhD evaluating the prodrome to diagnosis. As a mixed methods researcher she was touched by the number of accounts she heard of missed and delayed diagnosis of children, and the distress caused. She continues to work with members of the public, and is the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement lead for the Diabetes UK funded, UKIAb registry, a registry of individuals with positive T1D autoantibodies.