Richard SJ Frackowiak
Present academic and clinical positions: Professeur ordinaire & médecin Chef de service de neurologie, CHUV & University of Lausanne; Directeur du département des neurosciences cliniques, CHUV Lausanne; Executive co-director (medicine), Human Brain Project, EU; Professeur titulaire, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Honorary professor, Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London
Office Address: CHUV, BH10-137, Department of Neurology, 46, rue du Bugnon, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
Special interests: Neuroscience clinical & research policy, Clinical neurology, Cognitive neurology, Noninvasive neuroimaging research, Brain plasticity & recovery, Human Brain Project (EU)
Qualifications and vision for the position in the EAN:
I was chief of Neurology in London’s Hammersmith Hospital, consultant neurologist at Queen Square and now head the Neurology service at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne. I saw patients clinically, without break, throughout my career as an academic. Since 1979 I have pioneered human non-invasive human brain imaging for investigating structure-function relationships in health and disease. I have a record of obtaining large competitive grants (~€100M) and substantial philanthropic funds (>€10); my H-index is 156 (WoS).
I created the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience at University College London (UCL), and founded the Functional Imaging Laboratory (FIL) there. I directed the Institute of Neurology at Queen Square; created a multidisciplinary Department of Cognitive Studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris; and established a multi-disciplinary Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the CHUV. I have worked in both public and public-private health systems in the UK, France, Switzerland and Italy, with experience of university and university hospital management, receiving higher leadership training as vice-provost of UCL.
My international experience is in policy development as scientific advisor to Inserm’s director-general in France, as a member of the Swiss inter-cantonal committee on highly specialised medicine and as chairperson of Science Europe’s medical sciences committee in Brussels.
I am a committed European, fluent in three languages (English, French, Polish) and keen to promote the highest standards of clinical care and excellence in research and training.
The variety of European cultures is a strength, but the inequality of resources in Europe’s nations makes promoting uniform standards of care and training difficult. This task requires diplomacy, negotiating skills, a clear vision and complete respect for cultural differences.
European research granting agencies such as the ERC and Marie-Curie fellowships have proved very successful, complementing national funding. Neurology must make equivalent progress in the clinical training and research arenas by raising and distributing new funds across the continent for these purposes.
I believe that excellent clinical services and training can only flourish in an outstanding research environment. As president of the EAN I propose to chair a management committee that seeks, in collaboration with national neurological societies, to use EAN funds to promote attractive regional training programs; provide adequate attribution of credit for clinical skills and academic achievements in national career structures; and facilitate European trainee mobility for knowledge and skill dissemination. I will initiate discussions with neuro-partner organisations to develop novel, mutually advantageous relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device companies as a means of obtaining further funds for the EAN.
The EAN president must represent and promote neurology, in collaboration with patient and societal interest groups, at European health care training and accrediting agencies, research funding organisations and at the EU. I also propose to promote the international attraction of EAN annual meetings for both clinicians and researchers by topical and relevant joint programming.
The EAN presidency is a big commitment, but I shall have time to fulfill its duties as I retire from clinical and management responsibilities in 2015.
5 most important publications:
Good CD, Johnsrude IS, Ashburner J, Henson RNA, Friston KJ, Frackowiak RSJ.
A voxel-based morphometric study of ageing in 465 normal adult human brains.
2001 NeuroImage: 14, 21-36
Giraud AL, Price CJ, Graham JM, Truy E, Frackowiak RSJ
Cross-modal plasticity underpins language recovery after cochlear implantation.
2001 Neuron: 30, 657-663
Thieben MJ, Duggins AJ, Good CD, Gomes L, Mahant N, Richards F, McCusker E, Frackowiak RSJ
The distribution of structural neuropathology in pre-clinical Huntington’s disease
2002 Brain: 125, 1815-1828
Ward NS, Brown MM, Thompson AJ, Frackowiak RSJ
Neural correlates of recovery after stroke: a longitudinal fMRI study
2003 Brain: 126; 2476-2496
Klöppel S, Stonnington CM, Chu C, Draganski B, Scahill RI, Rohrer JD, Fox NC, Jack CR Jr, Ashburner J, Frackowiak RSJ
Automatic classification of MR scans in Alzheimer’s disease
2008 Brain: 131, 681-689
