Professor Denis Azzopardi FMedSci

Denis Azzopardi is Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College, London. He has developed and implemented the first proven therapy which reduces severe brain damage and improves survival after birth asphyxia. He began using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to show in newborn infants that birth asphyxia leads to delayed brain injury and that there is a ‘lucid period’ when neuroprotective treatments could potentially be applied. He led an economic analysis which proved cost benefit and has set up a registry for post-marketing surveillance of neonatal hypothermic neural rescue. Estimates suggest that this treatment has saved the UK over £100m in the costs of caring for people affected by birth asphyxia. It is now in use across the world.