Joanna Wardlaw


Joanna Marguerite Wardlaw is a Scottish physician, radiologist, and academic specialising in neuroradiology and pathophysiology. Wardlaw worked as a junior doctor before specialising as a radiologist. She continues to practice medicine as an Honorary Consultant Neuroradiologist with NHS Lothian. She has spent her entire academic career at the University of Edinburgh.

Early life and education

Wardlaw was born on 4 November 1958 in London, England. She was educated at Park School, an all-girls school in Glasgow, Scotland. She studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a first class Bachelor of Science degree in 1979, and Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1982. She later undertook research for a Doctor of Medicine degree, completing it in 1994. Her doctoral thesis concerned the pathophysiology and treatment of ischaemic stroke, and was titled "Imaging and treatment of acute ischaemic stroke: the application and verification of non-invasive imaging techniques in the investigation and treatment of acute ischaemic stroke".

Career and research

Having worked as a junior doctor, Wardlaw specialised as a radiologist. In 1986 she became a Member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom, and in 1988 a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Radiologist. From 1992 to 1994 she worked as a consultant neuroradiologist at the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Glasgow. Since 1994 she has been an honorary consultant neuroradiologist with NHS Lothian.
From 1994 to 1998, Wardlaw was a MRC senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. In 1997 or 1998, she established the at the University, now grouped with the into and continues to serve as its director. She was a Reader from 1998 to 2001. She has been Head of the Division of Neuroimaging since 2001. She was appointed to a personal chair as Professor of Applied Neuroimaging in 2002. She was the founding director of the Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence, leading the organisation until 2010.
Wardlaw is recognised as an expert in brain blood vessel diseases and neuroimaging. Her current research is focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of strokes, particularly cerebral small vessel diseases. She is also interested in the use of imaging in pathophysiology.

Awards and honours

In 2005, Wardlaw was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2011 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters. She was made a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2014. In the 2016 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to neuroimaging and clinical science".
In 2008, Wardlaw was awarded the President's Medal of the British Society of Neuroradiologists. In May 2017, she was awarded the Presidential Award of the European Stroke Organisation.. In 2018, she received both the Karolinska Stroke Award for Lifetime Contribution to Excellence in Advancing Knowledge in Stroke and the William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke.

Selected works

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