Rate My Professor Paul Edison

Professor Paul Edison is the Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. He holds qualifications of MBBS, MPhil, PhD, FRCPI, and FRCP. After completing his clinical training and MD, he pursued his MPhil and PhD at Imperial College London. His career includes roles as a Medical Research Council clinical research fellow and recipient of the Higher Education Funding Council for England Clinical Senior Lectureship award in 2011. Professor Edison serves as a consultant physician at Hammersmith Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital, and St Mary's Hospital in the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. He is also an honorary professor at Cardiff University and leads the Imperial College Memory Research Centre, acting as chief investigator for several PET and MRI imaging studies on memory impairment, Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and other causes of dementia. He runs a memory clinic and heads multicentre clinical trials evaluating novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Professor Edison's research specializations encompass neuroimaging with novel molecular probes using PET and MRI to assess pathophysiological changes in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other neurodegenerative conditions. His work examines amyloid deposition, microglial activation, tau pathology, glucose metabolism, neuroinflammation, and the interplay between inflammation, immunity, genetics, and cardiometabolic factors. Key findings include the correlation between microglial activation and cognition in Alzheimer's disease, independent of amyloid load. He evaluates therapeutic modulation of inflammation and amyloid, including GLP-1 analogues like liraglutide in the ELAD phase 2b trial. Notable publications include 'Liraglutide in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease: a phase 2b clinical trial' (Nature Medicine, 2025), 'Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer disease' (Nature Reviews Immunology, 2024), 'Astroglial activation: Current concepts and future directions' (Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2024), 'Cardiometabolic risk factors and neurodegeneration' (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2024), and 'Advances in the drug treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: pathophysiology and mechanisms of action' (2026). With 291 publications and over 16,500 citations, his contributions have advanced understanding of neuroinflammation and disease-modifying therapies. He has received several international best paper awards.