Professional background

Professor Weil graduated from Downing College, Cambridge with a first class degree in medical sciences, before studying clinical medicine at University College London.

She trained in general medicine at the Hammersmith, Brompton and Whittington hospitals (MRCP in 2004). She trained in neurology at the Royal Free Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

She is now a Professor of Neurology at UCL, and honorary consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. She leads clinics in cognitive disorders relating to Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and leads a research programme that aims to understand how dementia happens in Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Research interests

Professor Weil’s PhD research was at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, where she examined the integration of visual signals in the healthy and damaged brain.

She was awarded a post-doctoral UCL Excellence Fellowship in 2014 to study visual changes in Parkinson’s disease.

She now leads a Wellcome-funded research programme that aims to shed light on how dementia happens in Parkinson’s disease and in dementia with Lewy bodies.

Publications

•    Thomas GEC, Hannaway N, Zarkali A, Shmueli K, Weil RS. Longitudinal associations of magnetic susceptibility with clinical severity in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders. Online ahead of print 2024.
•    Gonzalez-Robles, C, Bartlett M, Burnell M, Clarke, CS, Haar S, Hu MT, Huxford B, Jha A, Lawton M, Noyce A, Piccini P, Pushparatnam K, Rocherster L, Siu C, Van Wamelen D, Williams-Gray CH, Zeissler ML, Zetterberg, H, Carroll, CB, Foltynie T, Weil RS, Schrag A.  Embedding patient input in outcome measures for long-term disease-modifying Parkinson disease trials. Movement Disorders. Online ahead of print 2023.
•    Dobson R, Rehill N & Weil RS. Democratising access to dementia research. ACNR. In press 2023.
•    Crook-Rumsey M, Daniels S, Abulikemu S, Lai H, Rapeux A, Charalambos H, Soreq E, Li LM, Bashford J, Jerasingh-Jacob J, Gruia D-C, Lambert D, Weil RS, Hampshire A, Sharp DJ, Haar S. Multicohort cross-sectional study of cognitive and behavioural digital biomarkers in neurodegeneration: the Living Lab study protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 In press.
•    Wagner SK, Romero-Bascones D, Cortina-Borja M, Williamson DJ, Struyven RR, Zhou Y, Patel S, Weil RS, Antoniades CA, Topol EJ, Korot E, Foster PJ, Balaskas K, Ayala U, Barrenechea M, Gabilondo I, Schapira AHV, Khawaja AP, Patel PJ, Rahil JS, Denniston AK, Petzold A, Keane PA. Association of retinal features on optical coherence tomography with incidence and prevalent Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 2023 17:101(16):e1581-e1593.  
•    Jiang J, Johnson JCS, Requena-Komuro M-C, Benhamou, E, Sivasathiaseelan H, Chokesuwattanaskul A, Nelson A, Nortley R, Weil RS, Volkmer A, Marshall CR, Bamiou, D-E, Warren JD & Hardy CJD. Comprehension of acoustically degraded speech in Alzheimer’s disease and primary progressive aphasia. Brain 2023. 146(10)4065-4076
•    Collerton D, Barnes J, Diederich NJ, Dudley R, Ffytche D, Friston K, Goetz CG, Goldman JG, Jardri R, Kulisevsky J, Lewis SJG, Nara S, O’Callaghan C, Onofrj M, Pagonabarraga J, Parr T, Shine JM, Stebbins G, Taylor JP, Tsuda I, Weil RS. Understanding visual hallucinations: a new conceptual hallucination framework. Neuroscience and Behavioural Reviews. 2023. 150:105208.
•    Hannaway N, Zarkali A, Leyland LA, Bremner FD, Nicholas JM, Wagner SK, Roig M, Keane PA, Toosy AT, Chataway J  Weil RS. Visual dysfunction is a better predictor than retinal thickness for dementia in Parkinson’s disease. JNNP 2023. 94(9):742-750
•    Batzu L, Bayram E, Tilley B, Gandhi R, Jagota P, Biundo R, Garon M, Prasertpan T, Lazcano-Ocampo C, Chaudhuri KY & Weil RS. Clinical trials for Cognition in Parkinson’s disease: Where are we and how can we do better? Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 2023.  112:105385
•    Alves JN, Westner BU, Holand A, Weil RS* & Dalal SS*. Structural and functional changes in the retina in Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2023 94(6):448-456  (*joint senior author)
•    Morinan G, Dushin Y, Sarapata G, Rupprechter S, Peng Y, Girges C, Salazar M, Milabo C, Sibley K, Foltynie T, Cociasu I, Ricciardi L, Baig F, Morgante F, Leyland LA, Weil RS, Gilron R, O’Keeffe J. Computer vision quantification of whole-body Parkinsonian bradykinesia using a large multi-site population. NPJ Parkinson Dis. 2023 27(1):10
•    Bhome R, Thomas GEC, Zarkali A & Weil RS. Structural and Functional Imaging Correlates of Visual Hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease. Current Neurology & Neuroscience Reports.  2023. 112:105385
•    O’Brien J, Chouliaras L, Sultana J, Taylor JP, Ballard C and RENEWAL Study group. RENEWAL: Repurposing study to find NEW compounds with Activity for Lewy body dementia – an international Delphi consensus. Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy, 2022. 14(1)169
•    Thomas GEC, Zeidman P, Sultana T, Zarkali A, Razi A & Weil RS. Changes in both top-down and bottom-up effective connectivity drive visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease. Brain Communications. 2022. 5(1):fca329
•    Toledo JB, Rodriguez-Porcel F, Wyman-Chick KA, Abdelnour C, Ferreira D, Weil RS, Pilotto A, Kane JPM, Taylor A, Rongve A, Scholz WS, Leverenz JB, Boeve BF, Aarsland D, McKeith IG, Lewis S, Leroi I, Taylor JP. Dementia with Lewy Bodies: Impact of Co-pathologies and Implications for Clinical Trial Design. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2023. 19(1):318-332
•    Zarkali A, Luppi AI, Stamatakis EA, Reeves S, McColgan P, Leyland LA, Lees AJ, Weil RS. Changes in dynamic transitions between integrated and segregated states underlie visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease. Nature Communications Biology 2022. 5(1):928
•    Zarkali A & Weil RS. Using network approaches to unravel the mysteries of visual hallucinations in Lewy Body Dementia. Brain 2022. 145(6):1883-1885
•    Rodriguez-Porcel F, Wyman-Chick KA, Abdelnour-Ruiz C, Toledo, JB, Ferreira D, Urwyler P, Weil RS, Kane J, Pilotto A, Rongve A, Boeve B, Taylor, JP, McKeith I, Aarsland A, Lewis SJG. Clinical outcome measures in Dementia with Lewy Bodies trials: Critique and recommendations. Translational Neurodegeneration. 2022. 11(1):24
•    Tsitsipa E, Rogers J, Casalotti S, Belessiotis-Richards C, Zubko O, Weil RS, Howard R, Bisby J, and Reeves S. Selective 5HT3 antagonists and sensory processing: A systematic review. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2022. 47(4):880-890
•    Bhome R, Zarkali A, Thomas GEC, Iglesias JE, Cole JH & Weil RS. Thalamic white matter macrostructure and subnuclei volumes in Parkinson’s disease depression. Nat. Parkinson’s disease. 2022. 8(1):2
•    Vignando M, Ffytche D, Lewis S, Lee PL, Chung SJ, Weil RS, Hu MT, Macakay CE, Griffanti L, Pins D, Dujardin K, Jardri R, Taylor JP, Firbank M, McAlonan G, Mak HKF, Ho SL, Mehta MA. Mapping brain structural differences and neuroreceptor correlates in Parkinson’s disease visual hallucinations. Nat. Commun. 2022. 13(1):519
•    Costello H, Berry A, Reeves S, Weil RS, Joyce EM, Howard R, Roiser JP. Disrupted reward processing in Parkinson's Disease and its relationship with dopamine state and neuropsychiatric syndromes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JNNP 2022. 93(5):555-562
•    Bohnen, NI, Yarnall A, Weil RS, Moro E, Moele MS, Borghammer P, Bedard M-A, Albin RL. Cholinergic system changes in Parkinson’s disease: Novel Therapeutic targets. Lancet Neurology. 2022. 21(4):381-392
•    Rupprechter S, Morinan G, Peng Y, Foltynie T, Sibley K, Weil RS, Leyland LA, Baif F, Morgante F, Gilron R, Hauser RA, O’Keeffe J. A clinically interpretable computer-vision based method for quantifying gait in Parkinson’s disease. Sensors (Basel). 2021. 21(16):5437.
•    Zarkali, A, McColgan P, Leyland, LA, Lees AJ & Weil RS. Longitudinal thalamic white and gray matter changes associated with visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease. JNNP. 2022. 93(2):169-179
•    Weil RS & Lees AJ. How to understand it: Visual Hallucinations. Practical Neurology. 2021. Online ahead of print.
•    Johnson CSJ, McWhirter L, Hardy CJD, Crutch SJ, Marsall CR, Mummery CJ, Rohrer JD, Rossor MN, Schott JM, Weil RS, Fox NC & Warren JD. Suspecting dementia. Canaries, chameleons and zebras. Practical Neurology, 2021. 144(2):391-401
•    Zarkali, A & Weil RS. Beyond dopamine: further evidence of cholinergic dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (Commentary on Keo et al.) European Journal of Neurology. 2021. Online ahead of print.
•    Thomas EC, Zarkali A, Ryten M, Shmueli K, Gil Martinez AL, McColgan P, Leyland LA, Acosta-Cabronero J, Lees AJ & Weil RS. Regional brain iron and gene expression provide insights into neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease. Brain 2021. 144(6):1787-1798
•    Jiang J, Benhamou E, Waters S, Johnson JCS, Volkmer A, Weil RS, Marshall CR, Warren JD, Hardy CJD. Processing of degraded speech in brain disorders. Brain Sciences 2021. 11(3):394.
•    Zarkali A, McColgan P, Leyland LA, Lees AJ & Weil RS. Visual dysfunction predicts cognitive impairment and white matter degeneration in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders 2021 36(5):1191-1202
•    Zarkali A, McColgan P, Leyland LA, Lees AJ, Rees G & Weil RS. Organisational and neuromodulatory underpinnings of structural-functional connectivity decoupling in Parkinson’s disease. Nature Communications Biology 2021:4(1):86.
•    Oxtoby NP, Leyland LA, Aksman LM, Thomas GEC, Bunting EL, Wijeratne PA, Young AL, Zarkali A, Tan MXT, Bremner FD, Keane PA, Morris HR, Schrag AE, Alexander DC & Weil RS. Sequence of clinical and neurodegeneration events in Parkinson’s disease progression. Brain 2020. 144(3):975-988.
•    Zarkali A, McColgan P, Ryten M, Reynolds, Leyland LA, Lees AJ, Rees G & Weil RS. Differences in network controllability and regional gene expression in Parkinson’s hallucinations. Brain 2020 143(11):3435-3448.
•    Zarkali A, McColgan P, Ryten M, Reynolds, Leyland LA, Lees AJ, Rees G & Weil RS. Dementia risk in Parkinson’s disease is associated with interhemispheric loss and determined by regional gene expression. Neuroimage Clinical 2020. 28:102470.
•    Johnson JCS, Marhsall CR, Weil RS, Bamiou E, Hardy CJD, Warren JD. Hearing and dementia: from ears to brain. Brain 2020. 144(2):391-401
•    Cope TE, Weil RS, Duzel E, Dickerson BC, Rowe JB. Advances in neuroimaging to support translational medicine in dementia. JNNP 2020: 92(3):263-270. 
•    Vokurka P, Barron A, Sumaria S, Stockford L, Jarman P, Bhatia B, Farmer S, Saifee T, Warner T, Weil RS, Gandhi S, Limousin P, Korlipara P, Foltynie T.Opicapone efficacy and tolerability in PD patients reporting insufficient benefit / failure of entacapone. Movement Disorders Clinical Practice 2020. 7(8):955-960.
•    Weil RS. Visual dysfunction and Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders 2020. 35(9):1499-1501
•    Weil RS & Reeves S. Hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease: new insights into mechanisms and treatments. Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation. 2020:19(4):)ONNS5189.
•    Foley JA, Dore C, Zarkali A, Livington G, Cipolotti L, Mummery CJ & Weil RS. Evaluation of START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) adapted for carers of people with Lewy body dementia. Future Healthcare Journal 2020: 7(3):e27-e29
•    Khoo A, McLoughlin B, Cheema S, Weil RS, Lambert C, Manji H, Zandi M, Morrow J, Post-infectious encephalitis associated with SARS-CoV-2 treated with corticosteroids. JNNP 2020. 91(9):1013-1014.
•    O’Brien, JT, Taylor, JP, Ballard C, …. Weil RS & ffytche. Visual hallucinations in neurological and ophthalmological disease:  pathophysiology and management. JNNP 2020. 91(5):512-519
•    Thomas EC, Leyland LAL, Schrag AE, Lees AJ, Acosta Cabronero J & Weil RS.  Brain iron deposition is linked with cognitive severity in Parkinson’s disease. JNNP 2020. 91(4):418-425
•    Zarkali A, McColgan P, Leyland LA, Lees AJ, Rees G & Weil RS, Fibre-specific white matter reductions in Parkinson’s hallucinations and visual dysfunction. Neurology. 2020: 94(14):e1525-e1538
•    Solomons M, Jaunmuktane Z, Weil RS, Brander S, El-Hassan T, Rees J. Seizure Outcomes and Survival in Adult Low-Grade Glioma over 11 years: Living Longer and Better. Neuro-oncology Practice. 2020. 7(2):196-201 
•    Weil RS, Hsu JK, Darby RR, Soussand L, Fox MD. Neuroimaging Parkinson’s disease dementia: Connecting the dots. Brain Communications. 2019:1(1):fcz006
•    Zarkali A, Adams RA, Stamatios P, Leyland LA, Rees G & Weil RS. Increased weighting on prior knowledge in Lewy Body-associated visual hallucinations. Brain Communications. 2019:1(1):fcz007
•    Leyland LA, Bremner  FD, Mahmood R, Hewitt S, Durteste M, Cartlidge MRE, Lai MM, Miller LE, Saygin AP, Keane PA, Schrag AE & Weil RS. Visual tests predict dementia risk in Parkinson’s disease. Neurology Clinical Practice. 2020. 10(1):29-39
•    Zarkali A, Lees AJ & Weil RS. Flickering stimuli do not reliably induce visual hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Parkinson’s disease. 2019:9(3):631-635
•    Weil RS, Winston JS, Leyland LA, et al. Neural correlates of early cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. 2019: 6(5):902-912
•    Weil RS, Morris HR. REM sleep disorder – an early window into neurodegeneration? Brain 2019: 142(3):498-501
•    Lanskey JH, McColgan P, Schrag AE, Acosta-Cabronero J, Rees G, Morris HR, Weil RS. Can Neuroimaging predict dementia in  Parkinson’s disease? Brain 2018: 141(9):2545-2560
•    Weil RS, Costantini A, Schrag AE. Mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease – What is it? Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports. 2018
•    Malek N, Weil RS, Bresner C et al. Features of GBA-associated Parkinson’s disease at presentation in the United Kingdom Tracking Parkinson’s study. JNNP. 2018: 18(4)17
•    Weil RS, Schwarzopf DS et al. Assessing cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease: An online tool to detect visuo-perceptual deficits. Mov Disord. 2018: 33(4):544-553
•    Weil RS, Lashley T, Bras J, Schrag AE, Schott JM. Current concepts and controversies in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. F1000Res 2017
•    Weil RS, McColgan P, Schrag AE et al. Reply: MRI findings of visual system alterations in Parkinson’s disease. Brain. 2017; 140(11):e70.
•    Weil RS, Pappa K et al. The Cats-and-Dogs test: A tool to identify visuoperceptual deficits in Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord.  2017:32(12):1789-1790.
•    Weil RS, Schrag A, Warren JD, Crutch SJ, Lees AJ, Morris HR. Visual dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. Brain.  2016; 139(11):2827-2843.
•    Nageshwaran S, Mullin S, Cowley P, Dorward N, Mort D, Weil RS. Subarachnoid haemorrhage as presenting feature of lumbar spinal arteriovenous malformation. Practical Neurology. 2013; 13(5):319-21
•    Weil LG, Fleming SM, Kilford EJ, Weil RS, Rees G, Dolan RJ, Blakemore SJ. The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence. Consciousness and Cognition. 2013; 22(1):264-71
•    Weil RS, Wykes V, Carmel D, Rees G.  Opposite effects of perceptual and working memory load on perceptual filling-in of an artificial scotoma. Cognitive Neuroscience. 2012;3(1):36-44
•    Weil RS and Rees G. A new taxonomy for perceptual filling-in.  Brain Research Reviews. 2011; 67:40-55
•    Weil RS, Fleming SM, Nagy Z, Dolan RJ, Rees G.  Relating introspective accuracy to individual differences in brain structure. Science. 2010; 329(5998):1541-3
•    Weil RS and Rees G.  Decoding the neural correlates of consciousness. Current Opinion in Neurology. 2010; 23(6):649-55
•    Song C, Kanai R, Fleming SM, Weil RS, Schwarzkopf DS, Rees G. Relating inter-individual differences in metacognitive performance on difference perceptual tasks.  Consciousness and Cognition 2010; 20(4):1787-92
•    Weil RS, Furl N, Ruff CC, Symmonds M, Flandin G, Dolan RJ, Driver J, Rees G. Rewarding feedback after correct visual discriminations has general and specific influences on visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2010; 104(3):1746-57
•    Weil RS, Plant GT, James-Galton M and Rees G.  Neural correlates of hemianopic completion across the vertical meridian.  Neuropsychologia.  2009;47(2):457-64
•    Weil RS and Rees G.  How does the brain fill-in the visual world? Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation. 2009; 9(4):12-15
•    Weil RS, Watkins S and Rees G.  Neural correlates of perceptual completion of an artificial scotoma in human visual cortex measured using functional MRI.  Neuroimage.  2008;42(4):1519-28
•    Weil RS,  Cavanna AE, Willoughby JMT, Robertson MM.  Air swallowing as a tic.  Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2008;65(5):497-500
•    Weil RS, Kilner J, Haynes JD, Rees G.  Neural correlates of perceptual filling-in of an artificial scotoma in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2007; 104(12):5211-6
•    Tofts PS, Benton CE, Weil RS, Tozer DJ, Altmann DR, Jager HR, Waldman AD and Rees JH.  Quantitative analysis of whole-tumour gadolinium enhancement histograms predicts transformation in low-grade gliomas.  J Magn Reson Imaging.  2007; 25(1):208-14 
•    Weil RS, Cohen JM, Portarena I, Brada M Optimal dose of stereotactic radiosurgery for acoustic neuroma: a systematic review. B J Neurosurgery.  2006; 20(4):195-202
•    Hunt D, Weil R, Nicholson AG, Burke MM, Du Bois R, Wells A. Pulmonary capillaritis and its relationship to development of emphysema in hypocomplementaemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome.  Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis. 2006; 23:70-2.
•    Candler PM,  Hart PE, Barnett M, Weil R, Rees JH. A follow-up study of patients with paraneoplastic neurological disease in the United Kingdom.  Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.  2004; 75: 1411-1415