9th October 2025
ICAT Alumnus Dr Claire Potter, who investigated the impact of stress on biological ageing, was profiled in the Irish Times Research Lives feature by Dr Claire O’Connell.
Claire discussed her research into biological markers of stress and memory performance, using two large cohorts, the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) led by Queen’s University Belfast, and The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), led by Trinity College Dublin. She studied the impact of the Troubles on the epigenetics of those who grew up during the conflict, and how this has impacted their health and cognitive ageing.
During her PhD, Claire was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to visit the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan, which offered the opportunity to validate her findings in large population cohort the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).
Claire is currently an Academic Clinical Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, and is completing her higher specialist training in Psychiatry.