Frances Ashcroft, FRS, MA (Cantab), PhD, ScD is a British physiologist. She is Royal Society GlaxoSmithKline Research Professor in the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. She is a fellow of Trinity College

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

 and, with Kay Davies

Kay Davies

Dame Kay Elizabeth Davies, DBE, FRS is a British human geneticist.She is the Dr Lee's Professor of Anatomy at Oxford University and a fellow of Hertford College...

 and Peter Donnelly

Peter Donnelly

Peter Donnelly, FRS is an Australian mathematician and Professor of Statistical Science at the University of Oxford. He is a specialist in applied probability and has made contributions to coalescent theory...

 is a director of the Oxford Centre for Gene Function

Oxford Centre for Gene Function

The Oxford Centre for Gene Function is a multidisciplinary research institute in the University of Oxford, England. It is directed by Frances Ashcroft, Kay Davies and Peter Donnelly....

.

Her research group has an international reputation for work on insulin

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....

 secretion, type II diabetes and neonatal diabetes. Her work with Professor Andrew Hattersley has helped enable children born with diabetes to switch from insulin injections to tablet therapy.

She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 in 1999. In 2007 she was awarded the Walter B. Cannon Award, the highest honour bestowed by the American Physiological Society

American Physiological Society

The American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 with 28 members. Of them, 21 were graduates of medical schools, but only 12 had studied in schools that had a professor of physiology. Today, the APS has 10,500 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in medicine, physiology or other...

.

She was awarded an honorary degree

Honorary degree

An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...

s of Doctor of the University from the Open University

Open University

The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

 in 2003 and Doctor of Science from the University of Leicester

University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....

on 13 July 2007.

She appeared (as a diner) on Masterchef during the 2011 series, along with several other Fellows of the Royal Society.

She authored Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival.