Professor Rita Horvath

I am a clinician scientist specializing in rare neurogenetic disorders. I began my medical training in Budapest, Hungary, and pursued laboratory research at the Montreal Neurological Institute during my PhD focusing on mitochondrial diseases. I further developed expertise in mitochondrial diagnostics and research in the Academic Hospital Schwabing and the Medical Genetic Center Munich from 1999 to 2007. In 2007, I joined Newcastle University as a Lecturer in the Mitochondrial Research Group, where I established my own research team dedicated to study mitochondrial translation deficiencies. I also developed a new clinical service and research on inherited peripheral neuropathies in Newcastle. In 2013 I was promoted to Professor of Neurogenetics in the Institute of Genetic Medicine. 

In 2018, I took on a new position at the University of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Neurosciences, where in 2023 I have been appointed as Professor of Neurogenetics and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. My research primarily focuses on identifying the molecular bases of rare inherited neurological conditions, such as mitochondrial diseases, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and inherited ataxias, with the aim of developing effective treatments. 

Project/study information 

Research in my group focusses on understanding the genetic causes and molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial diseases and other neurogenetic diseases with the ambition to develop treatments. My team has discovered several novel disease genes, and we study the associated molecular mechanisms to identify biomarkers and to develop treatments.