Thomas Foltynie BSc, MBBS, MRCP, MD, PhD

Dr Foltynie was appointed as Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Neurologist in the Unit of Functional Neurosurgery at UCL Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in May 2008.

He trained in medicine at UCL, qualifying in 1995 then working in Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge. From 1999 to 2003, he undertook his PhD in Cambridge looking at the heterogeneity of Parkinson's disease, describing differences in cognitive abilities between patients under the influence of various genes including COMT and BDNF, and Tau. He finished his neurology training between Addenbrooke's Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. While working in London with Dr Limousin, he has developed his interest in Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's disease and has developed collaboration between Parkinson's disease investigators in Cambridge and London.

He is now evaluating factors underlying the heterogeneity of response to Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), in addition to developing other innovative treatments for Parkinson's disease. These include leading a randomised trial of the GLP-1 receptor agonist Exenatide as a treatment for PD, and UCL's lead for the forthcoming EU sponsored cell transplantation trials for PD. Dr Foltynie is also responsible for patients having DBS for non-PD pathologies at Queen Square including Tourette syndrome and Cluster headache.

His research interests are Parkinson's disease, Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and the development of novel treatments for PD; in particular genetic factors that influence treatment response.