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Dr Aravinthan Varatharaj

 BMBCh MA(Oxon) PhD PGCME MRCP
Associate Professor in Neurology

Accepting applications from PhD students.

Connect with Aravinthan

Email: A.Varatharaj@soton.ac.uk

ORCID

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Name 
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Job title 
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Research interests (for researchers only) 
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In Pure (opens in a new tab), select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.

Contact details 
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ORCID ID 
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Accepting PhD applicants (for researchers only) 
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About Research Publications Supervision Teaching External roles and responsibilities Biography
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About

I am a clinical academic neurologist with a subspecialist interest in multiple sclerosis. My clinical practice is based at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

My research interests include:

  • The impact of systemic infection on the brain, in particular how this affects people with neurological diseases. Systemic infections are the most common cause of hospital admission for people with neurological disease and are associated with poor outcomes. I am the Chief Investigator of the MRC-funded SIBIMS study which is looking at multiple sclerosis in particular.
  • Blood-brain barrier (BBB) health, and its measurement for research and clinical use with dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, which I set up in Southampton. BBB disruption may explain how systemic infection and inflammation affects brain function. This technique can also help guide treatments for multiple sclerosis and I am exploring this in the EQUANIMS study, in collaboration with the Institute for Medical Imaging and Visualisation at Bournemouth University. In the PEBBAL study we are investigating use in Alzheimer's disease (funded by the Alzheimer's Society) . Meanwhile in the upcoming SUNLIGHT study I will be testing if we can use this for people with traumatic brain injury (funded by Ferblanc).
  • Regional differences in cerebral blood vessels, and how this impacts differential susceptibility to disease. I have an interdisciplinary collaboration with Professor Zudi Lu (Mathematics) to investigate this using spatial statistics.
  • Neurological complications of COVID-19. I co-founded the CoroNerve Studies Group which led the first nationwide surveillance programme for neurological complications of COVID-19. I provide medical advice to Headway about brain injury related to Covid.
  • Clinical trials in multiple sclerosis, and I am currently involved in Southampton's recruitment for OCTOPUS, a major new treatment trial for people with progressive MS.

 

I am also interested in how medicine, particularly neurology, is represented in literature. I have written on the works of Graham Greene, and Ian Fleming, and appeared on BBC Radio 4 discussing Arthur Conan Doyle.

I contribute to public understanding of research through work with the Science Media Centre.

Nationally, I work with the Royal Colleges of Physicians as part of the MRCP(UK) Specialty Question Writing Group, and sit on the Association of British Neurologists Research Committee.

You can update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘About’.

Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.

You’ll be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.

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