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

Cerebrovascular diseases (Basel, Switzerland)
Published

Perihaematomal Oedema Evolution over 2 Weeks after Spontaneous Intracerebral Haemorrhage and Association with Outcome: A Prospective Cohort Study

Authors
Neshika Samarasekera, Karen Ferguson, Adrian Robert Parry-Jones, Mark Rodrigues, James Loan, Tom J Moullaali, Jeremy Hughes, Laura Shoveller, Joanna Wardlaw, Barry McColl, Stuart M Allan, Magdy Selim, John Norrie, Colin Smith, Rustam Al-Shahi Salman
Perihaematomal Oedema Evolution over 2 Weeks after Spontaneous Intracerebral Haemorrhage and Association with Outcome: A Prospective Cohort Study
Int J Stroke
Published

The global burden of cerebral small vessel disease in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Authors
Bonnie Yin Ka Lam, Yuan Cai, Rufus Akinyemi, Geert Jan Biessels, Hilde van den Brink, Christopher Chen, Chin Wai Cheung, King Ngai Chow, Henry Kwun Hang Chung, Marco Duering, Siu Ting Fu, Deborah Gustafson, Saima Hilal, Vincent Ming Ho Hui, Rajesh Kalaria, SangYun Kim, Maggie Li Man Lam, Frank Erik de Leeuw, Ami Sin Man Li, Hugh Stephen Markus, Anna Marseglia, Huijing Zheng, John O'Brien, Leonardo Pantoni, Perminder Singh Sachdev, Eric E Smith, Joanna Wardlaw, Vincent Chung Tong Mok
The global burden of cerebral small vessel disease in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
J Exp Med
Published

Detection of interferon alpha protein reveals differential levels and cellular sources in disease.

Authors
Mathieu P Rodero, Jérémie Decalf, Vincent Bondet, David Hunt, Gillian I Rice, Scott Werneke, Sarah L McGlasson, Marie-Alexandra Alyanakian, Brigitte Bader-Meunier, Christine Barnerias, Nathalia Bellon, Alexandre Belot, Christine Bodemer, Tracy A Briggs, Isabelle Desguerre, Marie-Louise Frémond, Marie Hully, Arn M J M van den Maagdenberg, Isabelle Melki, Isabelle Meyts, Lucile Musset, Nadine Pelzer, Pierre Quartier, Gisela M Terwindt, Joanna Wardlaw, Stewart Wiseman, Frédéric Rieux-Laucat, Yoann Rose, Bénédicte Neven, Christina Hertel, Adrian Hayday, Matthew L Albert, Flore Rozenberg, Yanick J Crow, Darragh Duffy
Detection of interferon alpha protein reveals differential levels and cellular sources in disease.
J Exp Med
Published

Detection of interferon alpha protein reveals differential levels and cellular sources in disease.

Authors
Mathieu P Rodero, Jérémie Decalf, Vincent Bondet, David Hunt, Gillian I Rice, Scott Werneke, Sarah L McGlasson, Marie-Alexandra Alyanakian, Brigitte Bader-Meunier, Christine Barnerias, Nathalia Bellon, Alexandre Belot, Christine Bodemer, Tracy A Briggs, Isabelle Desguerre, Marie-Louise Frémond, Marie Hully, Arn M J M van den Maagdenberg, Isabelle Melki, Isabelle Meyts, Lucile Musset, Nadine Pelzer, Pierre Quartier, Gisela M Terwindt, Joanna Wardlaw, Stewart Wiseman, Frédéric Rieux-Laucat, Yoann Rose, Bénédicte Neven, Christina Hertel, Adrian Hayday, Matthew L Albert, Flore Rozenberg, Yanick J Crow, Darragh Duffy
Detection of interferon alpha protein reveals differential levels and cellular sources in disease.

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