Vanessa was brought up in France and Belgium where she attended the European School of Brussels. After coming to the UK to read Experimental Psychology and later, Immunology, she became a research scientist, working in the field of immunology, initially at The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (Hammersmith Hospital) and later at Imperial College London.

Following this, Vanessa joined The SMA Trust (which merged with SMA Support UK in 2018 to form SMA UK) as Research Coordinator in 2011 and SMA Europe until 2024 as Research Programme Manager, as well as SMA UK on a freelance basis.

Vanessa has now joined the SMA UK team as SMA Care UK Project Manager, to drive forward the update and implementation of the Standards of Care for people of all ages who live with SMA in the UK. The initiative will address people’s evolving care and management needs, reflecting developments around treatments, ensuring that those living with SMA are central to this process.