Clinical Neuroscience has a long history at St George’s, from the invention of the CT scanner at Atkinson Morley Hospital in 1971 to ground-breaking care in stroke, spinal cord injury and many other fields. From patients brought in via our helipad with major CNS trauma or being treated by our 24-hour stroke thrombectomy service to our comprehensive neuro-rehabilitation services, via a range of specialist teams covering all aspects of nervous system disease, we are one of the busiest neurosciences centres in the NHS.
Meanwhile, the University hosts research in state-of-the-art MRI imaging, language breakdown in dementia, small vessel disease in the brain, functional disorders, spinal cord injury, movement disorders, muscle disease, traumatic brain injury and neurogenetic disorders. The presence of most of this activity on a single site presents major opportunities for clinical-academic collaboration.
The Neurosciences Clinical Academic Group (CAG) is a vehicle for growing research and education in neurosciences across the St George’s family of institutions. Our steering group brings together clinicians and managers from St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, clinical and non-clinical researchers and educators from SGUL and people with lived experience of neurological illness.
The Neurosciences CAG has several current projects:
- The MSc in Clinical Neuroscience Practice has been launched. Details can be found here.
- Supporting academic career development for allied health professionals in neuroscience.
- Developing collaborations with other CAGs. We have held joint symposiums with the Infection & Immunity CAG and more recently the Genomics CAG. Details for both of these and upcoming symposiums can be found here.
- Building the clinical research infrastructure at St George’s through targeted investment in new posts, in collaboration with the St George’s Hospital Charity and others.
Vision
Our vision is that St George’s will:
- Offer a suite of educational opportunities in neuroscience at undergraduate, masters and doctoral level as well as short courses for qualified clinicians, harnessing the deep expertise of our clinical and academic faculty.
- Deliver clinical research in all areas of neuroscience across the relevant NIHR portfolios (e.g. neurological disorders, stroke, DeNDRoN, surgery).
- Have a growing pool of academics conducting original research in neurosciences at SGUL, including non-clinical researchers as well as those with medical, nursing and AHP backgrounds, in areas complementary to our clinical strengths and those of the other CAGs.
The N-CAG director is Dr Jeremy Isaacs: Dr Jeremy Isaacs - St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (stgeorges.nhs.uk).
The N-CAG administrator is Janet Guthrie on jguthrie@sgul.ac.uk.