Speakers
Dr Will Brown
Will Brown is a consultant neurologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cambridge; and a visiting research fellow at the Clinical Outcomes Research Unit at the University of Melbourne.
His research focuses on using real-world data to optimise the use of disease-modifying therapies in multiple sclerosis; running remyelination trials focusing on novel imaging outcomes to detect treatment effects; and exploring tissue vulnerability in multiple sclerosis.
Dr Wallace Brownlee
Dr Wallace Brownlee is a Consultant Neurologist and Clinical Lead for the Multiple Sclerosis Service at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Honorary Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Neurology. He completed undergraduate and postgraduate training in New Zealand before moving to London to undertake PhD studies. His thesis and ongoing research focuses on the use of MRI to improve the diagnosis of MS; the identification of imaging predictors of long-term outcomes; and understanding mechanisms responsible for disability and disease progression in MS using advanced MRI. Dr Brownlee is Principal Investigator for a number of ongoing phase III clinical trials in MS and NMOSD, and Associate Editor of Multiple Sclerosis Journal leading on case reports and social media.
Dr Therese Burke PhD, RN, MSCN
Dr Therese Burke is a Multiple Sclerosis Certified Nurse (MSCN) and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Nursing at The University of Notre Dame, Sydney, Australia. Therese’s current post-doctoral research study is exploring the skillsets, support and education of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses and defining the role in Australasia. Therese also works part-time at MS Research Australia managing the clinical trial and allied health research platforms.
Therese is active nationally in research and education subcommittees for Multiple Sclerosis Nurses Australasia (MSNA Inc) and internationally on the Multiple Sclerosis Nurses International Certification Board (MSNICB). Therese has broad research experience in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), particularly in understanding the lived experience and identifying ways to improve the quality of life and healthcare experience for people living with MS. Therese also lectures and presents internationally on educating the newly diagnosed patient, shared decision making, managing disease modifying therapies, maintaining focus on the patient during clinical trials and optimising the quality of life for people living with MS.
Professor Cris Constantinescu
Cris S Constantinescu is Professor of Neurology at the University of Nottingham, and Consultant Neurologist at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals. In addition to his clinical activities focused on MS and other neuroinflammatory diseases, he has been Investigator in many MS clinical trials, of phase I-IV, as well as observational and epidemiological studies in MS.
Research in Prof Constantinescu’s laboratory at the University of Nottingham has focused on immunomodulation and cytokine regulation in MS and its models. He has also been involved in neuroimaging studies.
Prof Constantinescu received his MD from the Boston University School of Medicine, and a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his internship in internal medicine, residency in neurology, and fellowships in neuroimmunology and neurorehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania and received further post-doctoral research and clinical training at the University of Basel.
He has been on faculty at University of Nottingham since 2000.
Dr Ruth Dobson
Dr Ruth Dobson is currently a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Preventive Neurology Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, QMUL, an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Barts Health NHS Trust. She studied medicine at Clare College, Cambridge and UCL, before completing medical and neurology training in London, Birmingham and Sussex.
She completed her PhD in 2013, which examined the genetic and environmental determinants of MS risk. This was supported by an ABN/MS Society Clinical Research Training Fellowship and a Brain Entry Scholarship. She was awarded an AAN International Scholarship Award for her research. She has over 50 publications in peer reviewed journals. Current research projects are supported by the MS Society, Horne Family Foundation and Barts Charity. She has recently developed and set up an international mentorship scheme for women working in the field of MS, and is a non-executive committee member of international women in MS (iWiMS).
Her main research interests are around the early identification and epidemiology of multiple sclerosis, with a particular focus on genetic and environmental risk factors including Epstein Barr virus infection and vitamin D. She is also working on how these may affect downstream morbidity in MS, in particular bone health. She was recently involved in developing and publishing UK consensus guidelines on pregnancy in MS, and is part of a steering group to develop a UK MS pregnancy register. A further research interest is pharmacovigilance and treatment-associated risk in MS, and she is currently principal investigator on a UK-wide study to examine this further.
Professor Nikos Evangelou
Professor Nikos Evangelou is Clinical Associate Professor in Neurology at the University of Nottingham and has a longstanding interest in MS. He graduated from Aristotle Medical School in Thessaloniki, Greece, and undertook his neurology training in Oxford and Nottingham, UK.
He was awarded his Doctorate degree in Oxford and has been a chief or principal investigator on a number of clinical trials in MS. After a period of work in pathology of MS, he is currently research active in neuroimaging, clinical trials, and symptom management in MS. He coordinates the Nottingham MS clinical team with clinical responsibility for 4000 patients with MS in the East Midlands, UK.
His role in NEuRoMS is to facilitate the smooth working of the research within the NHS environment. Specifically he will assist in refining the screening and treating pathway in routine NHS clinical practice.
Professor Jeremy Hobart BSc, PhD, FRCP, Dip Public Health
Dr. Jeremy Hobart is a Consultant Neurologist at University Hospitals Plymouth (previously Derriford Hospital), and Professor at the Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. His clinical sub-specialist interest is the diagnosis and management of people with multiple sclerosis. His medical training was at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and neurology training was undertaken predominantly at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square. He is also President of the South Devon branch of the MS Society.
Jeremy Hobart’s research interest is rating scales for measuring health outcomes. His training in health measurement and rating scale science has included a PhD in Psychometrics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Prof Donna Lamping), and post-doctoral attachments to the University of Chicago (Prof Ben Wright) and, more recently, a secondment to Murdoch University Perth, Western Australia (Prof David Andrich) sponsored by a Royal Society of Medicine Ellison-Cliffe Travelling Fellowship. By a combination of chance and design, this training means that Jeremy is one of only a handful of clinicians formally trained in rating scale science. He has led the development of a number of rating scales, has published widely in this area, and holds over £20 million in research grants. Jeremy Hobart is a Consultant Neurologist at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, and Professor in Clinical Neurology and Health Measurement at the Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry.
Dr Gillian Ingram
Dr Gillian Ingram is a Consultant Neurologist with a specialist interest in multiple sclerosis (MS) at Swansea Bay University Health Board, and honorary senior lecturer at Swansea University. She studied medicine at Sheffield University, before finishing her medical and neurology training in South Wales. She completed her PhD in 2011, which examined serological and genetic biomarkers of MS. This work was supported by a MS society research grant.
She was appointed as a consultant neurologist in Morriston hospital, Swansea in 2016 and works in the neuroinflammatory team looking after MS patients in South Wales. She is an investigator on a number of national and international multi-centre clinical trials in MS and has ongoing research interests with Swansea university looking at immunological and epidemiological aspects of multiple sclerosis.
Professor Alison Leary
Alison Leary is a Professor of Healthcare and Workforce Modelling at London South Bank University. She undertakes various research projects around the modelling of complex systems. She has worked clinically and analytically in cancer for much of the last 25 years. She is Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, a Fellow of the Queens Nursing Institute and a Winston Churchill Fellow for which she examined high reliability organisations looking at safety. She worked in league football for over 20 years and in 2019 received and MBE for modelling spectator safety.
Professor Jon Stone
Professor Jon Stone is Professor of Neurology at the University of Edinburgh and Consultant Neurologist with NHS Lothian.
Professor Stone has promoted new transparent, pragmatic and multidisciplinary approach to understanding, diagnosing and communicating Functional Neurological Disorder. Historically, this has been a “no-man’s land” between neurology and psychiatry which represents the second commonest reason for a neurological referral.
In 2009 he made the first website for patients with FND at www.neurosymptoms.org which is now widely used across the world. He has published over 300 articles in the area including large cohort, mechanism and treatment studies and led on new diagnostic criteria for FND in DSM-5 and ICD-11. He is the first Secretary and cofounder of the new international FND society (www.fndsociety.org).
His awards include the Jean Hunter prize from the Royal College of Physicians (2014), Royal College of Psychiatry President’s Medal (2017) and the Ted Burns Humanism in Neurology Award from the American Brain Foundation (2020).
Dr Rachel Thomasson
Rachel is a consultant neuropsychiatrist at the Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, which is one of the largest tertiary Neurosciences centres in the UK. She is a member of the executive committee of the Neuropsychiatry Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and actively contributes to development of the specialty. She has broad reaching clinical interests with respect to neuropsychiatric aspects of neurological disease in addition to teaching a wide variety of audiences across the UK. She has written and edited over 20 book chapters for clinical psychiatry textbooks in collaboration with Wiley-Blackwell and Cambridge University Press. A balanced combination of climbing, trail running, cake and good wine keep her busy outside work.
Professor Andrew Ustianowski
Professor Andrew Ustianowski is a Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine and Research Lead at the Regional Infection Unit, North Manchester General Hospital UK, he is also the Deputy Clinical Director in Greater Manchester Clinical Research Network & Joint National Specialty Lead for Infection for the UK National Institute of Health Research.
He lectures widely on HIV, hepatitis, COVID & related topics, is part of guideline writing committees for the British HIV Association & other bodies, and sits on several national and international educational steering groups. He has been chief investigator and principal investigator on multiple studies.
Dr Ustianowski graduated from Guy’s Hospital, London, UK and subsequently trained in Infectious Diseases, Tropical Medicine, HIV and General Medicine in the London region.