Nick Ward - Biography#

Nick is a clinical academic neurologist. In 1999, he was awarded the first Stroke Association Clinical Fellowship in Stroke Medicine. He then joined the research group of Professor Richard Frackowiak at UCL, carrying out work which led to the award of his M.D. (University of London). In 2003 he was awarded a Wellcome Intermediate Clinical Fellowship. In 2008, he was awarded a national HEFCE Clinical Senior Lectureship held at UCL. Nick was promoted to full professor at UCL in 2017.

In his academic role (50% FTE) he runs a research lab and is also co-director of ARM lab at UCL, which aims to promote upper limb recovery through understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of impairment, using approaches as diverse as neuro-imaging, brain stimulation, kinematics and robotics, and motor skill learning. To this end he collaborates widely across disciplines including neuroscience, engineering, architecture and built environments, and the performing arts.

To date, he has secured £12.8M in grant funding as PI or Co-I and has been the primary research sponsor for others to obtain £2.0M in fellowship funding.

In his NHS role (50% FTE) he set up and leads the Upper Limb Neurorehabilitation service at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, the only dedicated upper limb rehabilitation facility in the world. This is supported through a successful NHS business case which generates £1.2M a year for UCLH Trust. This innovative clinical academic service has been featured in the national press (The Observer, BBC News, Sky News).

He is founder and director UCLP Centre for Neurorehabilitation (since 2012) which aims to improve the lives of people with neurodisability by delivering solutions to major challenges in neurorehabilitation care, research and education. He is currently clinical academic lead in the collaboration between UCL and the SameYou charity (set up by the actress Emilia Clarke) to create a ground-breaking interdisciplinary Centre for Neurorecovery Research.