Rate My Professor Damian McLeod

Dr. Damian McLeod is a physiologist and Honorary Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy within the Discipline of Human Physiology at the University of Newcastle's Faculty of Health and Medicine. He earned his PhD in Human Physiology and Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Honours) from the University of Newcastle. As an Emlyn and Jennie Thomas post-graduate scholar, his doctoral research investigated the neural control of the airway circulation during exercise. McLeod's postdoctoral work began in stroke research alongside Professors Mike Calford and Neil Spratt in the Translational Stroke Research laboratory at the University of Newcastle. There, he helped uncover critical pathophysiological mechanisms of ischaemic stroke, demonstrating that intracranial pressure elevates dangerously after both large and small strokes, independent of cerebral edema. The team showed that mild hypothermia, cooling the brain by just a few degrees, effectively prevents this pressure rise. They also established that elevated intracranial pressure impairs blood flow through endogenous collateral vessels, offering a explanation for infarct progression following the initial stroke event.

His research interests include medical physiology, stroke, and cardiovascular physiology, with fields encompassing animal physiology-systems, cardiology including cardiovascular diseases, and animal neurobiology. Notable publications co-authored by McLeod include: Hood et al. (2023) 'Intracranial pressure elevation post-stroke: Mechanisms and consequences' in Frontiers in Stroke; Beard et al. (2016) 'Intracranial Pressure and Collateral Blood Flow' in Stroke; Murtha et al. (2015) 'Intracranial pressure elevation after ischemic stroke in rats: cerebral edema is not the only cause, and short-duration mild hypothermia is a highly effective preventive therapy' in Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism; Beard et al. (2015) 'Intracranial pressure elevation reduces flow through collateral vessels and the penetrating arterioles they supply' in Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism; and McLeod et al. (2013) 'Inadvertent Occlusion of the Anterior Choroidal Artery Explains Infarct Variability in the Middle Cerebral Artery Thread Occlusion Stroke Model' in PLOS ONE. These contributions have significantly influenced the understanding of stroke mechanisms and therapeutic strategies such as hypothermia.