Emma Scotter

Emma Louise Scotter is a New Zealand academic neuropharmacologist, and is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, and head of the university's Centre for Brain Research. In 2024 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Motor Neuron Disease research.

Academic career
Scotter completed a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Auckland, working on Huntington's disease. She undertook postdoctoral work at the University of Waikato, and then received an international fellowship to work on motor neuron disease genetics with Professor Chris Shaw at King's College London. Scotter then returned to Auckland as a postdoctoral research fellow, and in 2015 was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, for research on the blood-brain-barrier in motor neuron disease (MND). She joined the faculty of the university, rising to senior lecturer. As of 2024 she is head of the university's Centre for Brain Research.

Scotter's team has shown that New Zealand has one of the highest incidences of motor neuron disease in the world. There are around 35 different genes involved in MND, but only around 10 per cent of cases are known to be genetic, and environmental causes are also believed to play a part. Scotter leads a large study into the genetics of the disease in New Zealand, and in one family was able to identify the specific genetic defect involved, allowing family members to be tested. Her research group is trialling treatments, some of which appear to slow or stop the disease progression for some patients.

Honours and awards
In the 2024 King's Birthday Honours, Scotter was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Motor Neuron Disease research.