Improving prevention of stroke by better understanding of existing risk factors and treatments

Grantholders

  • Prof Peter Rothwell

    University of Oxford

Project summary

A physician and epidemiologist, Professor Rothwell will address the most important – but, he believes, tractable – issues in stroke prevention, including how best to diagnose and treat high blood pressure, how to further reduce the risk of recurrent stroke and how to identify patients at high risk of vascular dementia. He will study patients in two large longitudinal cohorts (Oxford Vascular Study and Oxford Vascular Cognitive Impairment Cohort), using state-of-the-art imaging, biomarker and genetic studies as well as standard clinical investigations to achieve better phenotyping of stroke and hence greater understanding of aetiology and prevention. He will also study how we can increase the benefit of existing treatments, including whether we should use aspirin to prevent cancer as well as heart attacks and strokes.