Fellow

Peter Rothwell is Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford. He works in the field of stroke prevention. His work has led to accurate targetting of carotid surgery onto the small number of patients who are most likely to benefit from this intervention. He has made important contributions to defining risk factors for adverse outcomes from carotid surgery and he has shown how difficult it is to evaluate the results of individual surgeons. He has put forward new ideas concerning the pathophysiology of stroke including the concept that variability in blood pressure may be more important than blood pressure per se. Recently he has provided evidence from analysis of large-scale randomized trials of aspirin use that this does reduce the risk of colon cancer, but that there is a latency of about ten years. Professor Rothwell’s work provides an inspiring illustration to young clinicians that research based directly on clinical practice can lead to rapid benefit for patients.