Dr Tim Wilkinson

MBChB (Hons) BMedSci PGDip MSc PhD FRCPE (He/Him)

Senior Clinical Research Fellow

My research focuses on vascular cognitive impairment, the interaction between small vessel disease and Alzheimer's pathologies in mixed dementia, and the design and delivery of clinical trials in dementia.

Condition

Alzheimer's disease, Mild cognitive impairment, Vascular dementia

Topics

Treatments & Interventions

Biography

I am a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Consultant Neurologist at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh. 


I was awarded an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship to undertake a PhD in dementia epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, entitled "Predicting Dementia: insights from routinely-collected healthcare data". During my PhD, I developed algorithms to identify dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases for UK Biobank, and co-created the SAIL Dementia e-Cohort, a 'virtual' cohort created from Welsh routine data, designed to facilitate epidemiological dementia research. 

Following my PhD, I was awarded a Scottish Clinical Research Excellence Development Scheme (SCREDS) clinical lectureship whilst completing my neurology clinical training. On completion of training, I undertook a combined clinical and research fellowship in Cognitive and Movement Disorders at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto. During this fellowship, I became increasingly interested in vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and clinical trials of dementia.


In 2023, I returned to the University of Edinburgh, joining Prof Joanna Wardlaw's group within the Row Fogo Centre for Research into Ageing and the Brain. In 2025, I was awarded an NRS Career Researcher Fellowship and a UK Dementia Trials Network Fellowship. Clinically, I work as a consultant neurologist in NHS Fife, where I run cognitive, movement disorders and general neurology clinics.


My research focuses on vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and its interplay with Alzheimer's disease pathologies, as well as the design and delivery of clinical trials in dementia.

Research interest

There are three main strands to my research:

  1. Trials of vascular cognitive impairment - I am working on LACI-Cog, a feasibility study of two repurposed drugs (isosorbide mononitrate and cilostazol) in patients with vascular cognitive impairment.
  2. The use of epidemiology and advanced imaging techniques to understand the contribution of cerebral small vessel disease to cognitive decline and dementia and how this interacts with Alzheimer's disease pathologies in mixed dementias.
  3. Early phase clinical trials in dementia - I hold a UK Dementia Trials Network Fellowship, during which I have trained in the delivery of early phase dementia trials and am working on delivering these trials in Edinburgh