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Staff Profile

Professor Nicola Pavese

Professor of Clinical Neuroscience

  • Email: nicola.pavese@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: 0191 2081264
  • Address: Clinical Ageing Research Unit
    Newcastle University
    Campus for Ageing & Vitality
    Westgate Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5PL
Background

Nicola Pavese, MD, PhD, FRCP, FEAN is Professor of Clinical Neuroscience and Director of the Clinical Ageing Research Unit at Newcastle University. He is also a Consultant Neurologist at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the treatment of patients with movement disorders and his clinical activity mainly focuses on the management of patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease, Dystonia and Essential Tremor treated with Deep Brain Stimulation. 

He received his medical degree from Pisa University, Italy. After completing residency training in Neurology and subsequent training in Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry at Pisa University, he moved to London where he achieved his PhD in Neuroimaging at Imperial College London.  He had worked at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre and Imperial College London before moving to Newcastle University.





Research

My research involves the application of neuroimaging (Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in neurodegenerative diseases to identify biomarkers of the pathological process and to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for the onset of specific symptoms such as dementia, depression, sleep problems, and fatigue, in patients with these conditions. My work has established for the first time that occurrence of fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness in Parkinson’s disease are linked to definite deficits of the serotoninergic pathways in the brain which may lead to development of   new drug targets and therapeutic strategies for these disabling symptoms. I have also worked extensively in the field of neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative disorders, and I currently leads an international collaboration with Aarhus University in Denmark and Barcelona University in Spain to investigate the occurrence of neuroinflammation in subjects at high risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and other parkinsonism, including patients with REM sleep behavior disorder.

I also act as Principal Investigator in several pharmaceutical sponsored clinical trials in patients with Parkinson’s disease and other parkinsonisms.

I have published over 160 reports including original articles, reviews, book chapters, and editorials.



Publications