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Professor Gillian Mead

Chair of Stroke and Elderly Care Medicine

Biography

Background

  • 2000: Senior lecturer then Reader in Geriatric Medicine, and Honorary Consultant Geriatrician and Stroke Physician
  • 2012: Personal Chair in Stroke and Elderly Care Medicine
  • 2010: NIHR Ageing specialty Group lead for Scotland

Research summary

Stroke is the major cause of severe adult disability. My research aims to find out how to improve recovery and quality of life of people who survive a stroke. I am trialling several treatments (including exercise and antidepressants) to find out whether they might improve quality of life and recovery from a stroke.

My research is driven by the clinical needs of patients. I employ a variety of research designs, including systematic reviews, observational studies, qualitative research methodology and randomised controlled clinical trials.

My research is focused on the under-researched area of ‘Life after Stroke’. I lead programmes of research in fatigue, exercise and cognition after stroke; these topics are amongst the top 10 priorities for stroke research. I am co-principal investigator of the FOCUS Trial (Fluoxetine or control Under Supervision), a UK multicentre trial that seeks to determine whether fluoxetine improves recovery after stroke.

Research group members

  • Dr Marilyn Kendall - Senior Research Fellow
  • Dr Yvonne Chun - Clinical Research Fellow
  • Dr Amanda Barugh - Clinical Research Fellow
  • Mrs Sarah Nicholson - PhD student
  • Ms Fiona Duncan - PhD student
  • Dr Simiao Wu - PhD student
  • Ms Lily McNamee - PhD student
  • Mrs Karen Innes - Trial manager
  • Ms Carol Williams - FOCUS trial site coordinator
  • Mr Jonathan Drever - Data manager
  • Mrs Ann Deary - Trial manager support officer
  • Mrs Aileen McGrath - Trial management support officer
  • Mrs Pauli Walker - Trial management support officer

Collaborators

  • Prof Scott Murray (Edinburgh)
  • Prof Stephen Lawrie (Edinburgh)
  • Prof Alasdair MacLullich (Edinburgh)
  • Dr Susan Shenkin (Edinburgh)
  • Prof Martin Dennis (Edinburgh)
  • Prof Nanette Mutrie (Edinburgh)
  • Prof Marion McMurdo (Dundee)
  • Prof Dawn Skelton (Glasgow)
  • Prof Trudie Chalder (London)
  • Dr Niall Broomfield (Glasgow)
  • Prof Avril Drummond (Nottingham)
  • Prof Graeme Hankey (Perth, Australia)
  • Prof Craig Anderson (Sydney, Australia)
  • Assoc Prof Maree Hackett (Sydney, Australia)

Sources of funding

  • Health Technology Assessment
  • Medical Research Council
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Stroke Association
  • Chief Scientist Office

Other information

I am also interested in the role of exercise for health in other groups of people including healthy older people, people with depression and people with schizophrenia.

I am co-investigator on the MRC-funded Seniors’ Understanding Sedentary Patterns project (led by Professor Dawn Skelton) and the EPSRC-funded Mobility Mood and Place project (lead Professor Catharine Ward Thompson).

I am a member of the Cochrane Stroke Group and Cognitive Improvement and Dementia editorial board groups, an associate member of the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE) and a member of the Geriatric Medicine Unit.

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