Jennifer Wild

Psychological scientist

I’m fascinated by how and why our brains over-remember the memories we most want to forget. I studied at the University of Toronto, diving deep into theories of how the brain makes memories and then overplays unwanted memories. This got me interested in post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, the severe stress reaction that afflicts soldiers and survivors of other traumatic events.

At Oxford, I research how to prevent PTSD from developing for people who will face trauma in their line of work, such as paramedics, police officers and firefighters. Most recently, I have developed SHAPE (www.shaperecovery.com) for frontline healthcare workers who have been working tirelessly through the COVID pandemic.