We are pleased to announce the appointment of a new Group Leader, Prof Suvankar Pal, to support the institute in delivering its vision of healthy brain ageing for all.
Prof Suvankar Pal is Professor of Neurodegenerative Disorders and Clinical Trials at the University of Edinburgh and a clinically active Consultant Neurologist.
A specialist in motor neuron disease (MND), Prof Pal is co-lead investigator of the innovative multi-arm multi-stage MND-SMART trial, which aims to drastically speed up the delivery of disease modifying treatments for MND. He is Deputy Director at the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, Principal Investigator of the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research, and Clinical Lead for Neurology at NHS Forth Valley.
I am incredibly excited to lead a programme at the UK DRI, aiming to deliver a streamlined approach for moving mechanistic understanding of neurodegenerative disorders into evidence-based clinical trials and, in turn, accelerating use of clinical trial data to dynamically inform discovery science through reverse translation, all with the aim of improving lives of people living with these devastating disorders.
Group Leader
Prof Pal’s clinical and research interests are focused on improving outcomes for people with neurodegenerative disorders, including accelerating early accurate diagnoses and identifying new therapies. He leads population-based disease registries, digital and fluid biomarker discovery programmes, and innovative clinical trials. He has a keen interest in education, mentorship, and training.
Prof Siddharthan Chandran, UK DRI Director, said:
“Suvankar brings a wealth of both scientific and trials expertise, and a superb track record in training and mentoring clinical fellows. These attributes will be invaluable as we move into the next phase of UK DRI focused on beginning to translate scientific insight into therapeutic impact. I am delighted to welcome Suvankar as a Group Leader.”
