Researchers

Professor Helen Cross

Professor Helen Cross is The Prince of Wales’s Chair of Childhood Epilepsy and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Neurology at UCL-Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London and the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy, Lingfield. She qualified from Birmingham University in 1984, trained in paediatrics in Birmingham and subsequently in paediatric neurology in London, obtaining her PhD in 1998.

Although she has a significant research commitment, she has been involved specifically in developing epilepsy services, particularly the epilepsy surgery programme, working across four departments. She is Chair of the ILAE Commission for Paediatrics, Assistant Secretary to the Board of the European Paediatric Neurology Society, Chair of the Trustees of Epilepsy Research UK and President of the British Paediatric Neurology Association. She is on the Editorial Board of Epileptic Disorders, Developmental Medicine Child Neurology and European Journal of Paediatric Neurology. In 2007 she was awarded an Ambassador for Epilepsy Award by the ILAE. Her research interests include neuroimaging as well as the role of early surgical intervention and new treatments in childhood epilepsy. In addition she is involved in national and international collaboration in the development of epilepsy services, teaching and research.

Dr Richard Chin

Richard Chin is a Walport Lecturer at the UCL-Institute of Child Health, working jointly across the Neurosciences Unit and the MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health. His research focuses on the epidemiological aspects of epilepsy, with the overall objective of improving the scientific basis for the prevention and management of childhood epilepsy. His epidemiological study of childhood status epilepticus, the North London Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Childhood Surveillance Study (NLSTEPSS) is largely considered the seminal study on the subject and he has recently completed a study on the long-term outcomes of childhood epilepsy utilising the 1958 British Birth Cohort. His current research projects include investigating the short and medium term outcomes of childhood status epilepticus and the development of a comprehensive, international, population-based programme on childhood epilepsy.

Professor Brian Neville

Professor Brian Neville was the first Prince of Wales’s Chair of Childhood Epilepsy, stepping aside from this post only to continue with research in December 2007. He was the first Professor of Paediatric Neurology in the UK appointed in 1989, and developed the unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital to become the largest combined clinical and academic department in the country, with collaborative links across Africa and India. He was also key to the development of the epilepsy surgery programme. He was appointed to the Prince of Wales’s Chair of Epilepsy in 2004, with a vision to considerably expand the academic research between UCL, GOSH and the NCYPE. His research interests involve the early onset epilepsies, with a focus on mechanisms involved in the comorbidities of cognitive and behaviour impairment, and interventions available to minimise these. He has been a principal driver in highlighting the possible extent of problems encountered by these children in education, and is developing research to determine the true extent of the problem as well as the possible role of intervention in the community. He is also a principal investigator on a large project funded by the EU on rare disorders of the nervous system.

Professor Charles Newton

Professor Newton is a Professor of Tropical Neurosciences and Paediatrics and leads the Tropical Neuroscience programme which is primarily based in Africa, in particular at the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Wellcome Trust Collaborative Programme in Kilifi, Kenya and at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. In Kilifi they investigate the causes, consequences and burden of neurological conditions in a rural tropical area, particularly those affecting children. Children with neurological conditions are assessed, either on admission to hospital or in epidemiological surveys in the community. Clinical pathophysiology studies are conducted on children admitted with acute seizures, malaria, bacterial meningitis and neonatal conditions such as sepsis, jaundice and tetanus. Outpatients with HIV infection and epilepsy are studied. Further studies on the genetic susceptibility and immunological basis of these conditions are being conducted. The neurocognitive consequences of these conditions are assessed by culturally appropriate psychological assessment and event related potentials. The follow up of cohorts of children with these conditions and epidemiological surveys allow the team to assess the burden of neurological conditions in this community. In Dar-es-Salaam the team is conducting studies on Sickle Cell Disease and epilepsy; in particular there are plans to use the neuroimaging facilities that are available in the city. More recently the team has been examining the burden of neurological disease in adults, and is funded to conduct studies of epilepsy in five demographic surveillance sites in Africa (Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) to determine the prevalence, risk factors and treatment gap associated with epilepsy.

Dr Rod Scott

Dr Rod Scott is a Reader in Paediatric Neuroscience with a specialist research focus on convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) and the mechanisms of brain damage and dysfunction associated with childhood epilepsy. There are ongoing clinical studies evaluating brain abnormality and associated learning impairments following very long seizures (status epilepticus), and investigating long term outcomes from status epilepticus. A randomised controlled trial assessing the impact of multiple drugs on quality of life is in progress at the NCYPE. He also leads animal model projects investigating the role of inflammation in brain injury associated with status epilepticus and, in collaboration with Dr Gregory Holmes (Dartmouth College, USA), he is investigating the relative impacts of the relative impacts of early life seizures and developmental brain abnormalities on long term cognitive outcomes.