The NI Clinical Research Network (NICRN) undertakes Neurodegenerative research throughout Northern Ireland. The NICRN is part of a UK-wide initiative to provide opportunities for patients and clinicians to participate in high-quality clinical research.
The NICRN aims to:
- promote Neurodegenerative research within Northern Ireland;
- attract clinical trials in Neurodegenerative to Northern Ireland;
- conduct clinical trials across Northern Ireland to the highest standards of quality and safety;
- provide infrastructure to facilitate the start-up of new trials in Neurodegenerative medicine;
- improve access for Neurodegenerative patients to new cutting-edge treatments.
Areas of interest include the following:
- Commercial collaborations utilising emergent therapies.
- Post operative Delirium and cognitive impairment
- Mild cognitive impairment.
- Inflammation and dementia
- In depth cognitive assessment within NICOLA and association of cognitive health with the environment
Professor Bernadette McGuiness – QUB
Neurodegenerative – Clinical Lead
Bernadette McGuinness, RN, BSc, PhD, FESC
Professor Bernadette McGuinness trained in geriatric medicine and general internal medicine. During this time she graduated with an MD for work on neuropsychological changes in dementia. Prof. McGuinness was awarded the Paul Beeson Career Development Award in 2007. This afforded three further years of research into mild cognitive impairment and led to a PhD.
She currently works as Clinical Professor of Ageing within the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast and Consultant Geriatrician in the Belfast Trust.
Dr McGuinness leads a memory service within the Belfast Trust. From a research perspective she is especially interested in Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, the role of inflammation and nutrition in neurodegeneration; she leads a portfolio of studies in these areas.
She is Clinical Lead of the Northern Ireland Cohort of Longitudinal Ageing (NICOLA) study and co-lead of NICRN Dementia.
Contact email: b.mcguinness@qub.ac.uk
