Fellow

John Rothwell is Professor of Human Neurophysiology at UCL. He is one of the rare basic neuroscientists who has successfully bridged the divide into clinical research. For many years he was the head of Prof CD Marsden’s electrophysiological research effort in the MRC Human Movement and Balance Unit in Queen Square, and he became Acting Director of that Unit on David’s premature death in 1998. He is presently Professor of Human Neurophysiology at University College London and Head of the Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders at the Institute of Neurology. He has made significant contributions to medical science in two areas: the development of non-invasive neurophysiological methods to investigate the pathophysiology of patients with movement disorders, and advances in techniques for transcranial stimulation of the human brain. The former led to the recognition of clear physiological abnormalities in a range of disorders of movement that were previously regarded by many as psychological in origin, such as Tourette’s syndrome, writers’ cramp and blepharospasm. They also led to a clear classification of myoclonic jerks in a variety of conditions according to their site of origin in the central nervous system. His work on the basic mechanisms of transcranial stimulation has provided the base for the present enormous expansion of that technique as a potential therapeutic tool in treatment of depression and an investigative method in cognitive neuroscience.