Hedley Emsley

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT HEDLEY EMSLEY

Professor Emsley is a Consultant Neurologist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at Lancaster University. His research spans fundamental mechanistic science – particularly around inflammation and vascular-brain interfaces – to clinical trials and healthcare data-driven translational applications. Work for his PhD and subsequently has helped to forge a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the interplay between inflammation, immunity, infection, and clinical stroke care. This included a focus on the crucial cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) as a target for intervention and the first clinical trial of IL-1 receptor antagonist in acute stroke.His work has helped to reposition late-onset epilepsy (LOE) as a neurovascular disorder. He has used MRI-based biomarkers to detect neurovascular unit dysfunction as well as quantifying heightened stroke risk in patients with LOE. He is advancing clinical care by advocating vascular evaluation, preventive strategies and better diagnostic clarity in older adults presenting with seizures, including through his work with the Epilepsy Research Institute. He recently co-founded the Collaboration for Late-Onset and Vascular Epilepsy Research.He leads work on cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) and has contributed to work on the role of cerebrovascular changes in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for instance through the ENIGMA-PD initiative. Through innovative imaging and data-driven research he is creating tools for earlier detection and risk stratification. Meanwhile his clinical advocacy has shaped a shift toward proactive management, turning silent cerebral microvascular damage into a condition where intervention matters. He is exploring opportunities to protect brain health through use of digital technology.He is a pivotal influence in bridging neurology clinical care with data science, with studies that transform routinely collected clinical data into meaningful, actionable insights, while advocating for improved data systems and coding standards in neurology. His work in this area supports developments in the NHS Lancashire & South Cumbria Secure Data Environment, a secure digital platform enabling the safe storage, integration and analysis of health and care data. His Department of Health & Social Care collaboration has shed light on neurological emergency admissions such as marked disparities in epilepsy admissions across socioeconomic groups, as well as the burden of comorbidities in neurological conditions.