Joanna Wardlaw profile image

Prof Joanna Wardlaw

(She/Her)

Group Leader and Clinical Director of the CVDR

Causes, mechanisms, clinical features, diagnosis, consequences, outcomes and treatment of cerebral small vessel disease focusing on clinical studies.

Condition

Alzheimer's disease, Vascular dementia, Mild cognitive impairment

Topics

Vascular system, Ageing, Cell biology of neurons & glia, Molecular mechanisms, Biomarkers & diagnostics, Lifestyle & environment, Treatments & Interventions

Techniques

Advanced microscopy & imaging, Lipidomics, Mass spec-based proteomics, Mouse in vivo imaging, Drug screening, Experimental medicine, Fluid biomarkers, Human brain imaging, Metabolomics, Mouse behaviour, Single cell / nucleus transcriptomics, Software development, Statistical modelling, Viral-mediated expression

Biography

Medicine (Hons) Edinburgh; clinical academic; foundation chair UK DRI 2017.

Large research medical imaging facilities; training programmes; research into cerebrovascular disease and vascular causes of cognitive decline including small vessel disease.

Honours & awards

2016  Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

1998 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh       (FRCP)

2005 Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences                     (FMedSci)

2008 Fellow of the European Society of Neuroradiology            (FESN)

2009 Fellow of the European Stroke Organisation                     (FESO)

2011 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh                         (FRSE)

2015 Fellow of the American Heart Association                        (FAHA)

2019 Fellow of the World Stroke Organisation                           (FWSO)

2025 Member of the Academia Europaea                                  (MAE)

2008  British Society of Neuroradiologists President’s Medal for Lifetime Achievement

2017   President’s Award, European Stroke Organisation, for lifetime contribution to stroke

2018   AHA/American Stroke Association Feinberg Award, for clinical advances in stroke,

2018   Karolinska Stroke Award for Lifetime Contribution to Stroke

2021   British Neuroscience Association Award for Outstanding Contribution to Neuroscience

2023   Biochemical Society - Sustained Excellence Award, 2024

2023   Association of British Neurologists Lord John Walton Memorial Lecture

2023   UK Stroke Forum Outstanding Achievement Award

2025   C Miller Fisher visiting Professorship, Massachussetts General Hospital/Harvard Med School

2025  Georges Marinescu Distinguished Lectureship, Romanian Neurological Society

News

Research interest

Small vessel disease; brain and vascular advanced MRI methods; vascular causes of dementia; cerebrovascular disease; clinical trials, reverse and forward translation.

Key publications

Nature communications
Published

Measurement characteristics and genome-wide correlates of lifetime brain atrophy estimated from a single MRI

Authors
Anna E Fürtjes, Isabelle F Foote, Charley Xia, Gail Davies, Joanna Moodie, Adele Taylor, David C Liewald, Paul Redmond, Janie Corley, Andrew M McIntosh, Heather C Whalley, Susana Muñoz Maniega, Maria Valdés Hernández, Ellen Backhouse, Karen Ferguson, Mark E Bastin, Joanna Wardlaw, Javier de la Fuente, Andrew D Grotzinger, Michelle Luciano, W David Hill, Ian J Deary, Elliot M Tucker-Drob, Simon R Cox
Measurement characteristics and genome-wide correlates of lifetime brain atrophy estimated from a single MRI
BMJ open
Published

Carbon footprint of a sample of clinical trials for people with neurological disorders: cross-sectional analysis

Authors
Denise Cranley, Sarah Dunn, John-Paul Taylor, Michael Jr Desborough, Jennifer Craig, Nikola Sprigg, Rachel McComish, Thomas Foltynie, Joanna Wardlaw, Katherine Oatey, Anna Heye, Philip Bath, Karen Innes, Lynn Dinsmore, Jessica Griffiths, Lisa Fox, Paula R Williamson, Rustam Al-Shahi Salman
Carbon footprint of a sample of clinical trials for people with neurological disorders: cross-sectional analysis
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
Published

Brain maps of general cognitive function and spatial correlations with neurobiological cortical profiles

Authors
Joanna E Moodie, Colin Buchanan, Anna Furtjes, Eleanor Conole, Aleks Stolicyn, Janie Corley, Karen Ferguson, Maria Valdes Hernandez, Susana Munoz Maniega, Tom C Russ, Michelle Luciano, Heather Whalley, Mark E Bastin, Joanna Wardlaw, Ian Deary, Simon Cox
Brain maps of general cognitive function and spatial correlations with neurobiological cortical profiles

Wardlaw lab

Explore the work of the Wardlaw lab focused on understanding how small vessel disease damages the brain and what we can do to prevent and treat it.

Wardlaw lab
Superintendent Radiographer Charlotte Jardine and colleague examines brain scans on a computer screen