General
Professor Nick Ward will give an iBBA colloquium talk, titled“How can extensive training and biomedical mechanisms promote post-stroke recovery?”.
Replicability and Generalisability in Face Research
Stroke is the leading cause of complex adult disability in the world. Recovery from stroke is often incomplete, which leaves many people dependent on others for their care. The improvement of long-term outcomes should, therefore, be a clinical and research priority. However, we are failing in two key areas. Firstly, there is a long history of providing too little rehabilitation training in the belief that no further recovery is possible. I will discuss the current state of upper limb rehabilitation and describe the experiences of the Queen Square Upper Limb Neurorehabilitation Programme. Secondly, based on work in animal models there are perceived opportunities to manipulate post-stroke biological mechanisms to promote recovery. However, this biomedical approach in humans has been hugely disappointing. I will discuss where we have gone wrong and perhaps how to put it right. The challenge ahead is to develop a mechanistic understanding of recovery from stroke in humans so that we know who to treat, when, and why.
Nick Ward is a Professor of Clinical Neurology & Neurorehabilitation at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. He is lead of the first dedicated upper limb neurorehabilitation programme in the UK; Deputy Editor of the Journal for Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry; Chair of the International Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Alliance Scientific Committee; Co-editor of the Oxford Textbook of Neurorehabilitation.
If you would like to discuss science with professor Ward on the day of his visit, please contact Katinka van der Kooij (k.vander.kooij@vu.nl) to schedule a meeting. For early career researchers, this is a great opportunity to talk to professor Ward over lunch on the Friday following the colloquium. If you want to join for lunch, please contact Katinka k.vander.kooij@vu.nl
The colloquium is followed by drinks!