Professor Sarah J Tabrizi BSc (Hons) MBChB (Hons) FRCP PhD
University College London – IoN
Email - Sarah
Professor Sarah Tabrizi is Professor of Clinical Neurology at UCL Institute of Neurology, and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. After undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Sarah undertook her PhD at UCL as an MRC Clinical Training Fellow studying the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular neurodegeneration. After clinical training in Neurology, in 2002 she was awarded a 5-year MRC/DH National Clinician Scientist Fellowship, enabling her to establish her own research group, studying cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, concentrating on protein misfolding diseases, particularly prion disease and Huntington’s disease. In 2006, she was awarded one of the first HEFCE New Blood Senior Lectureships; in 2007 she was promoted to Reader and in 2009 to Professor at UCL. In addition to bench science which focuses on cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, Sarah also leads a large translational research programme in Huntington’s disease working towards finding treatments for this disease. Sarah is PI of TRACK-HD and TRACK-ON HD, major international research initiatives aimed at understanding the neurobiology of the neurodegenerative changes in premanifest and early stage HD gene carriers, which is essential for the development of disease-modifying therapies to treat this disorder. She also first described the role of the immune system as a modifier of Huntington’s disease pathogenesis, and has an ongoing research interest in this area. Professor Tabrizi has had funding from the MRC, Wellcome Trust, CHDI/High Q Foundation, EU Framework 7, UK HD association, Brain Research Trust, BBSRC, Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases Network (Dendron) and the UCL/UCLH BRC for her research. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed research publications and book chapters, including senior-author papers in high-impact journals such as Journal of Experimental Medicine (2008), Journal of Clinical Investigation (2012), Lancet Neurology (2009, 2011, 2012), Neuron (2009), PNAS (2007), Molecular Cell (2007), Nature Communications (2011), and EMBO Journal (2011), with 80 of these in the last 4 years. Her research has been the subject of a review article in New England Journal of Medicine (2007), general scientific features in The Economist (2007), Lancet Neurology (2010), and Scientific American (2008), and a personal profile featured in The Lancet (2nd June 2012), in addition to numerous national and international features in the print and broadcast media.
