Dr Barry Seemungal Consultant Neurologist and Senior Lecturer in Neurology

About me

I am a consultant vestibular neurologist and head of the Brain And Vestibular Group (BAVG) at Imperial College London.

Our group uses sophisticated vestibular function testing and advanced brain imaging to investigate the effect of brain disease upon balance and spatial orientation. Our current focus is traumtic brain injury (TBI) and neurodgeneration. We look forward ro publishing some of our data in the next few months, which we believe will change policy for managing patients with TBI and elderly patients with falls.

As head of the BAVG, I currently supervise, two consultant neurologists, a neurology trainee, a senior vestibular physiotherapist and four scientists.

Current projects as of 2020 include:

- An MRC-funded project to assess the brain mechanisms of imbalance in Traumatic Brain Injury;

- An MRC-funded Clinical Academic Research Partnership (CARP) study with Dr Yen Tai, to trial the effect of spinal cord stimulation upon balance and falls in Parkinson's Disease patients;

- a JP Moulton Charitable Foundation grant (£0.55M) to complement the MRC CARP (above);

- A US Dep't of Defense project - in collaboration with colleagues from the US (Mayo clinic) and Rome (Tor Vergata) - to assess the factors impairing recovery from mild TBI;

- An NIHR Doctoral Fellowship to assess the barriers to treating a common inner ear problem in TBI (called 'BPPV');

- Pilot study (local funding) in balance and spatial orientation in dementia patients

- A Racing Foundation-funded study to develop automated diagnostics for concussion detection.