Professor Alan Thompson
Professor Alan Thompson is a Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), Queen Square. His specialty is multiple sclerosis (MS), and he currently runs an MS service offering specialist diagnostic, relapse, and rehabilitation clinics.
Alan Thompson is Dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences at University College London, Garfield Weston Professor of Clinical Neurology and Neurorehabilitation at the UCL Institute of Neurology, Chair of the Neuroscience Programme at the UCL Partners Academic Health Science Centre, and an NIHR Senior Investigator Emeritus. He studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin and trained in neurology at St Vincent’s/Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, The Royal London Hospital, and in neurology and neurorehabilitation at NHNN in Queen Square, London.
He holds an honorary doctorate from Hasselt University, Belgium, for his work in neurorehabilitation. He established the neurorehabilitation service at NHNN, and was NHNN Clinical Director from 2003 to 2007. Professor Thompson’s research focuses on understanding the pathological mechanisms that result in neurological disability and recovery using structural and functional imaging, developing scientifically sound outcome measures that incorporate the patient’s perspective, and has carried out trials of interventions in MS, neurological rehabilitation, and symptom management. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals in these areas.
Currently he chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee of the PMSA (International Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Alliance) which is coordinating research into the causes of and possible therapies for progressive forms of the disease.