We are delighted to announce that Dr Vafa Alakbarzade has been awarded European Stoke Organisation Young Investigator Award 2017 for her project undertaken at UCL Institute of Neurology/National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH), under the supervision of Dr Arvind
Chandratheva and Dr Rob Simister, Consultant Neurologist
& Clinical Lead, UCLH HASU. Dr Simister is also a Faculty member of the MSc Stroke Medicine, UCL Institute of Neurology.
The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) is a pan-European society of stroke researchers and physicians, national and regional stroke societies and lay organisations that was founded in December 2007.
The awards were presented at the ESO Conference, Prague, 16th May 2017.
"I first came to do MSc in clinical neurology as a medical graduate from Azerbaijan. Being inspired by the outstanding neuroscientists at IoN, I undertook a PhD under the supervision of Prof T Warner and Prof A Crosby, looking at the genetic basis of inherited neurodevelopmendal delay. This led to a scientific manuscript published in a leading Genetics Journals. Moreover, I had an opportunity to gain experience from world renown experts in neurology. This further led my path into employment at the UCLH stroke unit which is the main referral center of stroke for the North-Central London. Alongside working with and learning from outstanding stroke/neurology professionals, I had an opportunity to undertake an audit of ‘thrombophilia screening in young stroke and TIA patients’, which was awarded an European Stroke Organisation Young Investigator Award 2017. My journey at UCL was a unique experience because of inspiration, support and encouragement by first-class stroke/neurology professionals" Vafa Alakbarzade, MSc in Clinical Neurology 2010-11
"It was a great honour for Vafa to receive the young investigator award form the European Stroke Organisation. She performed an excellent audit of thrombophilia screening in young stroke and TIA patients highlighting our standard practice of extensive inherited thrombophilia testing was both low yield and costly. Based on these results a new pathway has been developed to focus on triple antiphospholipid testing and careful review of full blood count." Arvind Chandratheva