Patrick Chinnery is a neurologist and clinician scientist at the University of Cambridge. He obtained his medical degree and PhD from Newcastle University where he spent the first 20 years of his career until 2015.
Patrick is known for his work on inherited neurological diseases, and particularly mitochondrial disorders. His group discovered how mitochondrial DNA diseases originate in the population, how they are inherited down the maternal line, and how this causes an extraordinarily wide range of different clinical presentations.
He also showed that the nuclear genome and the mitochondrial genome continue to co-evolve in the human population. On the one hand, the cell nucleus shapes the inheritance of mitochondrial DNA, and conversely, there is ongoing transfer of mitochondrial DNA segments from the organelle into the cell nucleus. His clinical research has led to the discovery of many new mitochondrial disease genes, and the first licenced treatment for a mitochondrial disorder.
Professional position
- Professor of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge
Subject groups
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Molecules of Life
Biochemistry and molecular biology
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Cell Biology
Genetics (excluding population genetics)
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Health and Human Sciences
Medicine, clinical studies
