Prof. Orla Hardiman

Professor Orla Hardiman is a Science (BSc, Human Physiology 1979) and Medical (MB BCh BAO 1983 ) (Doctor of Medicine 1992) graduate of University College Dublin. She undertook a Residency and Fellowship in Neurology at the Harvard Partners Programme Boston (1986-1991), prior to returning to Ireland. She was appointed as a Consultant Neurologist in Beaumont Hospital in 1996. She joined the academic faculty of Trinity College Dublin in 2013 as the first Professor of Neurology in modern times and was elected a Fellow of TCD in 2014.

Her research group comprises over 50 individuals working in neurodegeneration, with particular focus on amyotrophiclateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. She is author of over 450 peer reviewed publications with over 28,000 citations and her h-index is 81(Scopus).

She is a Principal Investigator in the SFI funded FutureNeuro and ADAPT Centres, and leads the SFI-funded PRECISION ALS academic/industry consortium.

Prof. Hardiman is Co- Chair of the European Network for Cure of ALS (ENCALS) and the European Treatment Initiative to Cure ALS (TRICALS) and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the Frontotemporal Degenerations.

She leads a clinical trial group for ALS in the RCSI CRC, and has participated as rincipal Investigator in more than 30 early and late phase clinical trials.

She is currently HSE National Clinical for Neurology.

Prof. Hardiman is the recipient of a number of international awards including the American Academy of Neurology Palatucci Award for Advocacy (2002) , the Sheila Essey Award in ALS Research (2009), and the International ALS Alliance Forbes Norris Award (2011) and the Healey ALS Innovation Award (2020). In Ireland, she received the Tom Connor Distinguished Investigator Award (Irish Soc for Neuroscience 2021), the Trinity College Provost’s Innovation Award (2022), SFI Researcher of the Year Award (2022) and HRB Impact Award (2023). Her research is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board, The American Centre for Disease Control, The American ALS Association, the British MND Association the Irish MND Association, and the charity Research Motor Neuron.