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Dr Emer MacSweeney
Neuroradiologist

Dr Emer MacSweeney

Neuroradiologist

Bio

Dr Emer MacSweeney is a leading London neuroradiologist with experience in both the NHS and the independent sector. Currently, she is the CEO and Medical Director of Re:Cognition Health, where she was awarded the KPMG Entrepreneur of the year award in 2016.

Her previous posts include Director of Neuroradiology at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital, St George’s Healthcare Trust and Managing Director at MedTel UK.

Dr MacSweeney has a special interest in neuroradiology of cognitive impairment disorders with considerable experience in imaging of neurovascular diseases and traumatic brain injury.

Education

She trained in neuroradiology at The Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen's Square, specialising in interventional vascular neuroradiology, and spent time on a scholarship at Harvard University.

Dr Gianetta Rands
Psychiatrist

Dr Gianetta Rands

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Gianetta Rands is dual registered in general and old age psychiatry. She retired from the NHS in 2015 after 34 years, mostly as a consultant psychiatrist specialising in cognitive impairments due to dementias and delirium, mental capacity assessments and management, and the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illnesses presenting in older people. Throughout her career she has had major roles in postgraduate training, as Membership examiner, and on several Committees of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These continue as she develops her private practice and medicolegal work.

She is approved as s12 assessor for the Mental Health Act and medical assessor for the Mental Capacity Act.

Education

Throughout her career she has had major roles in postgraduate training, as Membership examiner, and on several Committees of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These continue as she develops her private practice and medicolegal work.

Dr Steven Allder
Neurologist

Dr Steven Allder

Neurologist

Bio

Dr Allder is currently working at Re:Cognition Health, using his clinical expertise to focus on the assessment of patients with traumatic brain injury. He has also established the first emotion focused service for medically unexplained neurological symptoms.

Alongside this clinical work, Dr Allder is embarking on a research project looking at the long term impact of autonomic responses provoked by acute traumatic injuries; specifically, how certain autonomic responses to acute trauma set up changes in underlying brain networks that create and maintain long term neurological and pain syndromes.

Dr Allder worked most recently within the NHS for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He previously worked at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust from 2004 – 2015, where he held a series of clinical leadership positions, including Assistant Medical Director, in addition to his clinical workload.

Dr Allder’s main interests are the management of acute neurological emergencies, in particular cerebrovascular disease and traumatic brain injury. Dr Allder ran a general neurology outpatient practice during his NHS work and had specific sub-specialist interest in neuro-otology (assessment of dizzy patients), neurological pain syndromes and medically unexplained symptoms.

Education

He trained in Nottingham in general medicine and carried out his specialist neurology training at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Julius Bourke
Neuropsychiatrist

Dr Julius Bourke

Neuropsychiatrist

Bio

Dr Julius Bourke is a consultant neuropsychiatrist and has a special interest in the assessment and management of neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's disease, brain injury and concussion, depression, anxiety (including PTSD and OCD) and stress-related conditions. He is an expert in the diagnosis and management of somatic disorders such as chronic fatigue and chronic pain syndromes, which lie at the interface between general medicine, surgery and psychiatry.

He is frequently instructed in the provision of expert medicolegal opinion on psychiatric disorders, head injury and post-concussion syndromes. His NHS clinic is in East London, outside of which he serves as a clinical senior lecturer in neurophysiology and clinical psychiatry at Queen Mary University London.

Education

His specialist research interests are in the neurophysiology of chronic pain, the somatic syndromes and stress-related disorders.

He has given numerous talks and presentations on both a national and an international basis. Dr Bourke has been widely published on an array of field-related topics. He has co-authored a text book on psychiatry and has contributed chapters to numerous others, including for a world leading textbook on internal medicine and on chronic pain, fatigue and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Dr Sarah Griffiths
Neuropsychologist

Dr Sarah Griffiths

Neuropsychologist

Bio

Dr Griffiths, D. Clin. Psy, PGDip (Neuropsych.), is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and full practitioner member of the British Psychological Society Division of Neuropsychology. She is currently the Lead Consultant Neuropsychologist for the Memory Assessment Service, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where she directs the specialist assessment of, and post-diagnostic intervention programmes for, dementia sufferers.

During 8 years working as a Senior Neuropsychologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neuropsychology, Queens Square she gained extensive experience in diagnostic neuropsychology assessments and rehabilitation with a wide range of patients with neurological impairment, including those with dementia, stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and brain tumours. During that time, she was also the Lead Psychologist for the Neuro-oncology Service. She has expertise in carrying out assessments of capacity and fitness to work following neurological injury.

Education

She completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, and achieved a distinction in her post-graduate diploma in Neuropsychology from the University of Glasgow.

Dr Wojtek Rakowicz
Neurologist

Dr Wojtek Rakowicz

Neurologist

Bio

Dr Wojtek Rakowicz MB BS, BSc, PhD, FRCP has been consultant neurologist since 2003. He provides a comprehensive consultant-led outpatient & inpatient service covering the whole of adult neurology as well as a regional specialist neuromuscular service. Dr Rakowicz has been preparing medicolegal reports covering all aspects of neurology since 2005. Early on he worked on personal injury claims and also developed a specialist portfolio of neurological problems arising from pharmacy dispensing errors, particularly in Parkinson’s disease. In the last 4 years he has been developed a wide portfolio covering epilepsy and cognitive dysfunction following head injury, stroke prevention (TIAs), and neuromuscular disorders – diseases of the diseases of the spinal cord (including nerve roots and cauda equina), motor neurones, peripheral nerves and muscles.

Education

MB BS, BSc, PhD, FRCP

Dr John Janssen
Neurologist

Dr John Janssen

Neurologist

Bio

Dr Janssen was appointed to the consultant staff at The Chelsea and Westminster, Royal Brompton and Charing Cross Hospitals in 2005. He has set up a specialist emergency TIA service and been closely involved with the introduction and provision of stroke thrombolysis in West London in conjunction with the North West London Stroke and Cardiac Network.

Dr Janssen was appointed service director for neurology and stroke in 2016 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and leads an expanding and busy department of 15 consultants. He is a keen teacher of medical students and a GMC recognized trainer.

Dr Janssen specialist interests include headache, migraine, stroke, TIA, dementia, memory, Parkinson's, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and general neurology.

Education

Dr John Casimir Janssen qualified from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (one of the founding medical schools of Imperial College School of Medicine) and subsequently trained as a neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Royal Free Hospital.

He was a Research Fellow in the Dementia Research Group and was awarded his MD from The Institute of Neurology, University of London. As a senior registrar he was a Visiting Fellow to the Alzheimer Research Centre at The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Dr Karren Towgood
Neuropsychologist

Dr Karren Towgood

Neuropsychologist

Bio

Dr Towgood is a HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a full member of the BPS Division of Neuropsychology.

Dr Towgood has worked for over a decade in the field of neuropsychology within both the private and public sector in the UK and internationally.

Dr Towgood has specialist experience in neuropsychological assessment with adults and older adults, including patients who present with stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, HIV and other neurological conditions. She also has extensive expertise working within a neuro-rehabilitation setting where she has developed expertise in conducting capacity assessments, applied behavioural management and working therapeutically with clients and their carers who present with a range of cognitive and emotional difficulties.

Dr Towgood has been involved in conducting medico-legal assessments since 2013.

Education

Dr Towgood was awarded her BPsych (1st Class Honours) from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia before completing her PhD and Clini-cal Psychology Training at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Dr Towgood is also an experienced researcher having completed post-doctoral posts with world leading experts at the ICN, University College London, and the IOP, Kings College London.

Dr Towgood's research interests include individual case study approaches to profiling neuropsychological conditions and assessment of memory using fMRI in neurological conditions. She has presented her work at a number of international conferences and in journal articles and has received awards for her research contributions.

Dr Dimitrios Paschos
Psychiatrist

Dr Dimitrios Paschos

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Dimitrios Paschos is a leading Consultant Psychiatrist at Re:Cognition Health centre and on the NHS, where he focuses on the mental health of adults with learning and developmental disabilities. He has a special interest in ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and the mental health of people with learning disabilities. His professional experience includes Consultant Psychiatrist for South London & Maudsley, the Cambian Group as well as Camden and Islington NHS.

Education

Dr Paschos earned his MD in Thessaloniki, Greece. He then spent time as a research fellow in Kings College, London before moving on to the South London and Maudsley Hospital. Here he completed his specialisation training (SpR) in the Psychiatry of Learning Disabilities and trained in their National Adult ADHD Centre.

Dr Maite Ferrin
Psychiatrist

Dr Maite Ferrin

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Maite Ferrin (MD, MSc, PhD) is a Consultant Psychiatrist with with extensive expertise in treating children and adolescents with all types of mild and more severe psychiatric conditions, including anxiety/depression, psychosis, bipolar disorder, PTSD, ASD/ADHD, eating disorder, and emerging Personality Disorder. Dr Ferrin has been providing tailored medical treatments and non-pharmacological approaches including CBT and psychoeducation to these patients and their families.

Dr Ferrin has published more than 40 international peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the field of child psychiatry. She is part of the steering committee of the Continuum ADHD Project, an expert-led pan-European educational initiative in the ADHD field. Dr Ferrin is also one of the few UK members of the Eunethydis Group (European Network for Hyperkinetic Disorders) and the European ADHD Guidelines Group (EAGG), independent international leading groups with special clinical and research interest in the ADHD/ADD field

Education

Dr Ferrin graduated from University of Navarre (Spain) in 2001 and subsequently completed her training in General Psychiatry in Pamplona, Spain, and then undertook specialist fellowship training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Imperial College in London. In 2005-2006 Dr Ferrin completed her MSc training in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, King´s College London. In 2010 she completed her European PhD in Neurosciences at the University of Granada/King´s College London, and she was qualified with the prestigious Cum Laude (equivalent to Distinction grade). During these years Dr Ferrin continued working as CAMHS Consultant Psychiatry, specialising in diagnosis and treatment of ADHD/ASD and comorbid conditions throughout the lifespan.

Dr Ferrin is Honorary Clinical Lecturer at the Brain and Behaviour Laboratory, at the University of Southampton

Dr Claudia Wald
Psychiatrist

Dr Claudia Wald

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Claudia Wald is a Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in the mental health of older adults. She has had a wide range of experience in overseeing services including older adult in-patient wards, an NHS-funded continuing care home for people with mental illness and associated challenging behaviours, an older adult community mental health team and older adult liaison services at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

Dr Wald established the Westminster Memory Service in 2009 and the Kensington & Chelsea Memory Service in 2011 which have both repeatedly been nationally accredited with excellence by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and which were awarded The Royal College’s Older Adult Team of the Year in 2015.

She has extensive experience in the diagnosis and management of cognitive disorders and the psychiatric and behavioural symptoms which commonly accompany these conditions. In addition, Dr Wald has extensive experience in the diagnosis, treatment and management of functional mental illnesses such as mood disorders and psychosis as well as capacity assessments.

Education

Dr Wald gained dual accreditation in adult and older adult psychiatry from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1998 and has been a Consultant Psychiatrist for Older Adults in Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust since 2003.

Dr Richard Perry
Neurologist

Dr Richard Perry

Neurologist

Bio

Dr Richard Perry is a consultant neurologist with a specialist interest in memory disorders and dementias. He has been running memory clinics at Charing Cross Hospital in London since 2005 and specialises in early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Education

Dr Perry completed his medical degree at the medical college of St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1990. His specialist experience in memory disorders and dementia was gained in Cambridge from 1995 to 1999 and in San Francisco from 1999 to 2000.

Deborah Colson
Nutritionist

Deborah Colson

Nutritionist

Bio

Deborah Colson has been specialising in nutritional support for cognitive and neurological health and well-being since 2002.

Nutritional Therapy is an evidence-based therapy, which is complementary to medicine and other therapies and involves managing nutritional and biochemical factors which impact health. Deborah provides detailed assessment of nutritional status that can contribute to psychiatric and neurological symptoms including cognitive decline, ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders, mood disorders including depression, anxiety and bipolar, and psychotic disorders including schizophrenia. She develops a practical, personalised plan for each individual which takes into account their unique lifestyle and dietary preferences, and their current nutritional status and genetic predisposition.

Deborah is a full member of the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT) and is registered with the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council).

Education

Deborah completed her initial training at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London (DipION) in 2002 and completed an MSc in Nutritional Therapy at the University of Westminster in 2014. She lectures regularly to a variety of audiences including corporates, medical and other health professionals, students and the general public. She is co-author of The Alzheimer's Prevention Plan, Optimum Nutrition for Your Child and Optimum Nutrition for your Child's Mind.

Dr Joanne Rodda
Psychiatrist

Dr Joanne Rodda

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Rodda is a Consultant Cognitive Psychiatrist and is part of the dynamic team at Re:Cognition Health. Her professional and research interests include early symptoms of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, dementia diagnosis, depression and anxiety in older people. She has a special interest in health and lifestyle interventions for cognitive function and reducing dementia risk. She has written publications in these areas and several others including medications for dementia, depression in older people and services for younger people with dementia.

Dr Rodda is a consultant in older adult psychiatry at NELFT in North East London and provides medical leadership to the Havering memory service, identified as one of only a handful of services in the UK to meet all standards set by the Memory Service National Accreditation Programme.

Dr Rodda is also the dementia specialty lead for the North Thames Clinical Research Network and within this role has been instrumental to the development and implementation of "Join Dementia Research" (JDR). JDR is an NIHR initiative whose goal is to meet the Prime Minister's challenge to increase the number of people participating in dementia research to 10% of people with dementia and to find a disease-modifying treatment by 2025.

Education

Dr Rodda is also the dementia specialty lead for the North Thames Clinical Research Network and within this role has been instrumental to the development and implementation of "Join Dementia Research" (JDR). JDR is an NIHR initiative whose goal is to meet the Prime Minister's challenge to increase the number of people participating in dementia research to 10% of people with dementia and to find a disease-modifying treatment by 2025.

Dr Alberto Cifelli
Neurologist

Dr Alberto Cifelli

Neurologist

Bio

Dr Alberto Cifelli is a Consultant Neurologist at Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Ilford.

Education

He gained his doctorate in Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, undertaking research on multiple sclerosis.

Dr Cifelli carried out his specialist neurology training at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and previously was a Neurology Consultant at King’s College Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital.

Lisa Harris
Speech and Language Therapist

Lisa Harris

Speech and Language Therapist

Bio

Lisa Harris is Senior Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who has 18 years of experience working in the rehabilitation of adults with communication, cognitive and swallowing difficulties resulting from neurological injury or disease.

Lisa provides detailed assessment of cognitive and communication disorders that can result from a stroke, head injury (TBI), Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, brain tumours, Alzheimers disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).Once an assessment is completed Lisa will work closely with a client looking not only at developing a suitable treatment plan, but how to support and enable the client and their family to communicate effectively and manage any cognitive difficulties such as memory or processing problems.

Lisa also provides a paediatric service alongside her neurological work which specialises in Language Processing Disorders (difficulty understanding and using language successfully). Lisa uses both the traditional paediatric forms of treatment and those developed from her cognitive, neuroscience background to develop strategies to enable children with language and cognitive difficulties to process and understand information more successfully

Education

Since graduating from City University in 1995 she has held several specialist posts in London NHS hospitals (St George's Hospital; Atkinson Morley's Hospital, London; Harrowlands and The Wolfson Medical Rehabilitation Centre) and has been head of department for two neurological rehabilitation units (Unsted Park Neurological Rehabilitation centre and The Brain Injury Centre, The Queen Elizabeth Foundation, Banstead.) She has also been a post graduate clinical tutor at The City University, London.

Dr Amod Dalvi
Psychiatrist

Dr Amod Dalvi

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Dalvi is a Consultant Psychiatrist with significant experience in developing Memory and Liaison Services in London.

Education

Dr Dalvi has worked as an academic Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College, with special interest in cognitive disorders and effect on executive function.

Dr Paul Butler
Neuroradiologist

Dr Paul Butler

Neuroradiologist

Bio

Dr Butler specialises in diagnostic neuroradiology and interventional vascular neuroradiology and works with patients affected by cerebrovascular disease and stroke.

Dr Butler first became a consultant neuroradiologist in January 1986. He has been director of imaging at King Edward VII Hospital, a private hospital in London, since 2004.

Education

Dr Paul Butler graduated from Westminster in 1976.

Dr Eleni Paliokosta
Psychiatrist

Dr Eleni Paliokosta

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Eleni Paliokosta (PhD) is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist who has been working for the last ten years in the field of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

For the last 5 years she works as a Consultant at a Specialist Service for Children with Disabilities in North London, working exclusively with children with various developmental problems including Autism. She delivers teaching and training to psychiatry trainees on the field of her expertise and interest.

Education

She has been trained in and has practiced extensively the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and she has been a member of the International Molecular Genetic Study of Autism Consortium. Eleni completed her PhD on Autism and she has done clinical research on ADHD and Learning Disabilities at King’s College London.

Dr Andre Strydom
Psychiatrist

Dr Andre Strydom

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Andre Strydom, Consultant Psychiatrist in Learning Disabilities at C&I, focuses on recognising and treating mental disorders in adults with neurodevelopmental conditions − including people with intellectual disabilities, Down Syndrome, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, and ADHD.

His particular interest is in research on how to diagnose and manage the memory problems some people experience as they get older and the mechanisms that underlie associations between genetic conditions such as Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease, and which could help us to identify new treatments.

Education

Dr Strydom, who also mentors young researchers in UCL’s Division of Psychiatry, is involved in developing and trialling complex interventions in adults with ID, such as CBT for anxiety and depression, positive behaviour support for problem behaviours, and health checks for people with intellectual disabilities in primary care.

Dr Emma Reynolds
Neuropsychologist

Dr Emma Reynolds

Neuropsychologist

Bio

Dr Reynolds currently works in private practice and in the NHS as a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist. In her NHS role, she is the lead in managing and developing neuropsychology rehabilitation services for patients across a number of London boroughs including Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster, and Kensington & Chelsea. She provides clinical supervision and training for a team of clinical neuropsychologists. She has extensive experience in carrying out neuropsychological assessment of patients with acquired brain injury and neurological conditions. This includes but is not limited to traumatic brain injury, stroke, brain tumour, neuro-degenerative disorder and epilepsy.

Dr Reynolds is experienced in carrying out medico legal work and receives instructions from claimants (75%) and defendants (25%). She has completed the Cardiff University Law School Bond Solon Civil Expert Certificate (CUBS) and is a member of the Expert Witness Institute.

Education

She completed her training at University College London and Royal Holloway, University of London. She then undertook further specialist training in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Glasgow and was awarded a Distinction. Following this, she obtained the Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology, which is viewed as the gold standard qualification for clinical neuropsychology within the UK. She was then offered a place on the Specialist Register in Clinical Neuropsychology, regulated by the British Psychological Society.

Dr Stephen Pearson
Psychiatrist

Dr Stephen Pearson

Psychiatrist

Bio

Dr Stephen Pearson FRCPsych, is a Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry based in Plymouth.

He works for Re:Cognition Health at the Plymouth Science Park where he leads a clinical research team who deliver world class clinical dementia research trials. He describes these research trials as bringing hope to people with dementia, and offer an opportunity for patients and volunteers to get involved in research. He also offers a My Memory Service at the research centre for assessments of patients concerned about early memory problems.

He also works in NHS services in a memory clinic, and in local community services. He is also lead for the South West Peninsula Huntington’s Disease Clinic and offers advice and support to professionals and patients.

Education

Dr Christopher Symeon
Neuropsychiatrist

Dr Christopher Symeon

Neuropsychiatrist

Bio

Dr Christopher Symeon is a consultant psychiatrist in liaison and neuropsychiatry. He has experience in the assessment and treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions including functional neurological disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, brain injury, as well as general psychiatric disorders.

Education

He undertook his medical training in Bart's and The London medical school before going on to his specialist psychiatric training South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. In addition, he has completed a masters in neuroscience at Kings College London.