"Deconstructing ALS- From Bedside to Bench (and back again)"
Dr. Orla Hardiman
Orla Hardiman, BSc, MB, BCh, BAO, MD, FRCPI, FAAN, FTCD, MRIA is Professor of Neurology and is Head of the Academic Unit of Neurology at Trinity College Dublin and Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, where she is Director of the National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS ) service.
She is a Science (BSc, Human Physiology 1979) and Medical (MB BCh BAO 1983) (Doctor of Medicine 1992) graduate of University College Dublin. She undertook a Residency and Fellowship in Neurology at the Harvard Partners Programme Boston (1986-1991), prior to returning to Ireland.
A practicing clinical neurologist for over 30 years, she joined the academic faculty of Trinity College Dublin in 2013 as the first Professor of Neurology in modern times and was elected a Fellow of TCD in 2014. In 2016 she was one of only three practicing physicians to ever have been elected as members of the prestigious Royal Irish Academy (Science Division).
She leads a research group of over 50 individuals in Neurodegeneration, with particular focus on ALS and frontotemporal dementia. She is Co- Chair of the European Network for Cure of ALS (ENCALS) and the European Treatment Initiative to Cure ALS (TRICALS) and is Editor in Chief of the journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the Frontotemporal Degenerations.
She is the recipient of a number of international awards including the AAN Sheila Essey Award in ALS Research, and the International ALS Alliance Forbes Norris Award. She has published over 420 peer reviewed articles, and her h-index is 75 (Scopus) .
Her research is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board, The American Centre for Disease Control, The American ALS Association, the British MND Association the Irish MND Association, and the charity Research Motor Neuron.