Associate Professor Rebekah Ahmed

Associate Professor Rebekah Ahmed is an Associate Professor, at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, and a Consultant Neurologist and Director of the Memory and Cognition Clinic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Neurologist at FOREFRONT, a clinical research group dedicated to Frontotemporal dementia and motor neurone disease at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on metabolic and physiological changes in neurodegeneration, particularly Frontotemporal dementia and Motor Neurone Disease.

She is an internationally recognised leader in the neurobiology of younger-onset dementia. In just 6 years post-PhD, she has gained international prominence for her pioneering research exploring changes in eating behaviour and metabolism as early prognostic indicators of Frontotemporal Dementia and Motor Neurone Disease. Her innovative research has led to a slew of publications in the highest impact journals in the field including Lancet Neurology, Nature Reviews Neurology, Brain, all as first author. To date, Rebekah Ahmed has produced 100 publications, which have amassed > 3800 citations. She has received funding (>$6 million as CI) from the NHMRC, MND Research institute of Australia and Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Her research has received recognition with the awarding of Prizes from Sydney Research (Young researcher of the year 2022), Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurology, and American Academy of Neurology.

Rebekah Ahmed has a strong clinical background and leads the multidisciplinary Memory and Cognition clinic at RPA, which comprises a team of researchers and clinicians that specialise in the early diagnosis and treatment of patients with young onset dementia. The clinic has several clinical trials including genetic therapy in FTD and anti-tau therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. 

Professor Craig Anderson

Professor Craig Anderson is Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, and is in part-time clinical practice as a neurologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia. 

Craig holds specialist qualifications in clinical neurology and geriatrics, a PhD in medicine and epidemiology from The University of Western Australia, and is a Senior Investigator Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia.  He is a past President of the Asia Pacific Stroke Organisation and the Stroke Society of Australasia, and is a member of several specialist societies and an editor for the Cochrane Stroke Group.  He has published widely on the clinical and epidemiological aspects of stroke, cardiovascular disease and aged care, and has led several large-scale investigator-initiated epidemiological and clinical trials that have had a major influence on clinical practice guidelines for stroke treatment and prevention.

Professor Michael Barnett 
MBBS (Hons), FRACP, FRCP, PhD

Professor Michael Barnett MBBS (Hons), FRACP, FRCP, PhD is a neurologist specialising in the management of neuroimmunological disroders. He is the Director of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Neuroimmunology Service RPA, Director of the MS Clinical Trials Unit at Brain and Mind Centre, Co-director of the MS Australia Brain Bank, Lead of the Computational Neuroimaging Team BMC, and Research Director at Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (SNAC).

Professor Barnett leads a comprehensive MS and related disorders research program that spans laboratory, imaging, translational and clinical trials research.  He maintains an active investigator-driven research program, based around the academic RPA MS service (the largest multidisciplinary MS clinic in NSW); and has published high impact neuroimaging research, relating primarily to the development of advanced and AI-based imaging biomarkers in MS and other neurological disorders.

He is the Research Director for SNAC, which provide a platform for novel neuroimaging research and was the first centre with the capacity to perform neuroimaging analysis for Phase 3 regulatory trials in the Southern hemisphere.

Professor G. Michael Halmagyi

Professor Halmagyi is a Consultant Neurologist at RPA and Professor of Neurology at the University of Sydney. He is the Director of the Eye and Ear Research Unit which is the national referral centre for the diagnosis and treatment of patients from all over Australia with difficult balance.

Professor Matthew Kiernan AM
MBBS (Hons) (USYD), PhD (UNSW), DSc (UNSW), FRACP, FAHMS, FAA

Professor Kiernan's team are currently investigating mechanisms and the possible prevention of neurodegeneration in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and motor neurone disease (MND). Separate studies are also underway in patients diagnosed with Kennedy's disease, chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity, inflammatory neuropathies, stroke, Machado-Joseph disease, spinal muscular atrophy, and other inherited neuropathies. As the Bushell Professor of Neurology, Professor Kiernan was dually located at the University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Professor Kiernan was also the Co -Director of the Brain and Mind Centre - Discovery and Translation. 

Professor Kiernan provides academic leadership in neurology and promotes partnerships between researchers and healthcare practitioners to optimise the translation of research into improved healthcare practice and policy.

Motor neurone disease is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is universally fatal. MND causes the nerves and muscles to atrophy leading to paralysis. The recent discovery of the C9orf72 gene has revealed further links between MND and FTD. 

The ForeFront clinic offers diagnostic assessment for patients with suspected motor neurone disease or frontotemporal dementia and multidisciplinary symptom management for patients. Our diagnostic team perform electrodiagnostic studies including electromyography and nerve conduction studies, as well as novel procedures such as nerve and muscle ultrasound, peripheral nerve excitability and transcranial magnetic stimulation, the latter used to study brain function.

For patients diagnosed with motor neurone disease the clinic provides ongoing support along with the opportunity to participate in research projects including novel clinical trials.

Associate Professor Armin (Mohamed) Nikpour
MBBS (Hons), FRACP, BSc (Math)

Associate Professor Armin Nikpour is a neurologist specialising in the management of epilepsy. He is the Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Service at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and University of Sydney. He is also a specialist in Positron Emission Tomography.

Associate Professor Nikpour is recognised for his expertise in epilepsy management, particularly imaging and surgical planning. His research involves the use of mathematical and engineering techniques to detect seizures and develop new methods for recording brain waves.

His other research interests include the detection and treatment of mood disorders and memory problems that often accompany epilepsy. He has also investigated novel radioligands for the imaging of the brain. As Head of the Epilepsy Unit, Associate Professor Nikpour has developed close collaborations with other specialties including physics, engineering, psychology and neuropsychology.

Associate Professor Miriam Welgampola
BSc Med (Hon), FRACP, PhD

Associate Professor iriam Welgampola is a Staff Neurologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a Neuroscientist at the University of Sydney. Her clinical work focuses on vertigo diagnosis and management in the Emergency Department, Vestibular Event Monitoring in the community and the use of Machine Learning in the differential diagnosis of vestibular disorders. Research conducted in Miriam's laboratory, in collaboration with otolaryngologists also examines the nystagmus characteristics of typical and atypical positional vertigo, the vestibular test profiles before and after cochlear implantation and characteristics of bilateral vestibular failure.