Dawn is Professor Emeritus in Dementia Studies at the University of Worcester in the UK, where she was formerly the Director of the Association for Dementia Studies. She is internationally recognised for scholarship in practice development of person-centred dementia care and has long established working relationships with practitioners and scholars worldwide.

Dawn qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1984 and worked in the NHS in a variety of clinical and managerial posts for 17 years before moving into academia in 1999. She established the Association for Dementia Studies in 2009 where she led a team of educationalists and researchers across a wide portfolio of dementia care practice improvement programmes, including establishing a fully online postgraduate programme in dementia studies. Together with Mr Keith Oliver, Dawn is the Reconsidering Dementia Book Series editor for Open University Press. She was made an MBE for services to those affected by dementia in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2021.