Rate My Professor Alastair Webb

Dr Alastair Webb is a Clinical Reader in Stroke Medicine and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Brain Sciences within Imperial College London's Faculty of Medicine. He earned his MA, BMBCh, MSc, MRCP(Neurology), and DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2013, supported by an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship under Professor Peter Rothwell at the Wolfson Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia. Qualifying as a Consultant Neurologist in 2017, Webb advanced at Oxford as Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow from 2017 to 2022 and Associate Professor from 2020 to 2024. In March 2024, he joined Imperial College London, where he leads the Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Research Group and serves as NHS Honorary Consultant in Stroke and Neurology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Previously, he held honorary consultant roles at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Webb's research focuses on cerebral small vessel disease, cerebrovascular physiology, stroke medicine, and vascular dementia, which accounts for 30% of ischaemic strokes, 80% of intracerebral haemorrhages, and the most common cause of vascular dementia. He employs diverse methods including big data analyses from UK Biobank, MRI imaging, prospective cohort studies, and interventional clinical trials to elucidate causes, enhance measurement techniques, and develop novel treatments. Key contributions include principal investigator roles in the TREAT@SVDs trial on antihypertensive effects on cerebrovascular reactivity, the OxBP sub-study on autoregulation, and the OxHARP trial, which in 2024 demonstrated that sildenafil improves cerebrovascular function in patients with small vessel disease, potentially reducing risks of stroke and vascular dementia. Prominent publications feature 'Cerebrovascular Effects of Sildenafil in Small Vessel Disease' (Circulation Research, 2024), 'Optimal markers of treatment response to vasodilatory drugs in small vessel disease: An OxHARP trial analysis' (2025), 'Effects of antihypertensive-drug class on interindividual variation in blood pressure and risk of stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis' (2015), and studies on blood pressure variability, arterial stiffness, and cerebral pulsatility as predictors of cerebrovascular injury and cognitive decline. A Fellow of the European Stroke Organisation, Webb has chaired its Education Committee and served as Scientific Chair for BIASP in 2024.