Neuroscience

Neurological disorders are a very important health challenge for the world, causing significant morbidity and mortality. The UCLPartners Neuroscience Programme is delivering real progress for patients in three important neurological conditions, all of which have a major impact on society: stroke, brain cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, and dementia and Parkinson’s disease. There are critical research challenges in each of these areas, which teams within UCLPartners are addressing. Progress in this research will continue to underpin improvements in treatment and management for patients. We have already made major strides by establishing new models of service delivery, which are improving quality of life and reducing mortality.

To date we have made greatest progress in stroke, with the establishment of a network incorporating HASUs, stroke units and rehabilitation services across UCLPartners and into the communities of North London. This has already resulted in improved in-patient mortality rates and thrombolysis rates. Whole pathway quality measures have been developed for piloting in Camden and Harringey and in conjunction with the London HASU and SU, with Tower Hamlets, and with the King’s Fund.

Improved outcomes from brain cancer are being pursued in partnership with the UCLPartners Cancer Programme, through the development of an integrated care pathway and more clinical trials:  recruitment into clinical trials has more than doubled in one year. This has been greatly facilitated by the opening of one of the first Brain Cancer Units in the UK at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square; and the co-location of neurosurgical and other key activities on that site.

For Parkinson’s disease, patient registration and sample collection across UCLH and the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) have received ethical approval and are in place, together with agreed treatment pathways. Research in this area continues to attract high level funding and international acclaim. In Dementia a joint working group with the UCLPartners Mental Health Programme has been established. Translational research in dementia is active at UCLPartners, with several novel therapies, developed in collaboration between UCL, UCLH and RFH, poised to enter phase II studies.

For more information, please contact Professor Alan Thompson, Programme Director for Neuroscience at UCLPartners.