Rate My Professor Emer McGrath

Professor Emer McGrath is a Professor in the School of Medicine at University of Galway and a Consultant Neurologist at Galway University Hospital. She holds the degrees MB BCh BAO, PhD in Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology), MRCPI and MRCPUK. She completed clinical training at Galway University Hospital and her PhD at NUI Galway. She undertook specialist training in Neurology and Neuromuscular Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in neurovascular cognitive disorders at the Framingham Heart Study, Boston University, supported by an Alzheimer’s Association Clinician Scientist Fellowship. In 2018 she held a faculty position at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Neurologist post at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before returning to Ireland in 2020.

Her research focuses on biomarkers for the early detection of preclinical neurocognitive disorders, the epidemiology of neurocognitive disorders, and related lifestyle and clinical factors. She has led international collaborative studies, including work on vitamin D levels in mid-life and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers, and on the association between early menopause and increased dementia risk. Professor McGrath was awarded an HRB Clinician Scientist Fellowship of €655,524 for research into blood-based biomarkers for early detection of preclinical neurocognitive disorders. She contributes to research committees and has published peer-reviewed articles on topics including sleep interventions for blood pressure and dementia-related biomarkers.