Professor Peter Sandercock, MA, DM, FRCPE, FMedSci

Academic Clinical Neurologist,  University of Edinburgh

Studied Medicine at the University of Oxford, and undertook his postgraduate clinical training in Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Oxford and Liverpool, followed by a visiting academic fellowship at McMaster University Canada.  His initial research was on the epidemiology of stroke in Oxfordshire, and in clinical trials of stroke prevention. He has had a career-long interest in Evidence-Based Medicine and served as member of the Editorial Board of the   Cochrane Stroke Group for over 20 years and was the coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Stroke Group 1998-2011. When he took up his academic post in Edinburgh in 1988 he set up and ran the first International Stroke Trial (IST-1), the first ‘mega-trial’ in acute ischaemic stroke.  It tested aspirin & heparin in 19.435 patients recruited within 48 hours of stroke onset from 467 hospitals in 37 countries.  He is the Co-Chief Investigator of IST-3, with 3035 patients, making it the largest-ever trial of i.v. thrombolytic therapy for acute ischaemic stroke.    He has served (and continues to serve) on the Data Monitoring and Trial Steering Committees of many academic, investigator-led randomised clinical trials in stroke and Neurology.  He established and ran the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Management Course for over 10 years and had a major role in the University of Edinburgh on-line Master’s Course in Clinical Trials by distance learning. He has published over 500 articles in per-reviewed journals.  He has been an active member of the Board of Directors of the World Stroke Organisation and of its educational arm, the World Stroke Academy.  He Chairs the Education Committee of the World Stroke Organisation and is a regular representative from WSO on the EAN Task Force on Africa teaching courses for neurologists in Africa (he has taught clinicians in Senegal, Zambia, Sudan and Burkina Faso).  He has given plenary lectures at conferences and major teaching courses in over 40 countries.   He has been made an Honorary Member of the Argentinian Cardiological Society, the Polish Neurological Society, The French Neurological Society and the Indian Stroke Association.  His present major commitments are to mentoring and training young stroke academics, disseminating evidence based stroke practice in low-and middle-income countries and supporting clinical trials through work on steering and data monitoring committees.