Professional background

Olga Ciccarelli is a NIHR research professor of neurology at University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology with a particular interest in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Olga studied at the University of Rome, completing her training in Neurology in 1999. After coming to the UK, she obtained a PhD in Neurological Studies at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in 2005. She was then awarded the prestigious Wellcome Trust Advanced Clinical fellowship. She became professor of neurology in 2015 and NIHR research professor in 2019. Olga is the head of the department of neuroinflammation at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. She is a senior member of the MS clinical service at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. She leads in research studies in MS using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). She also teaches postgraduate students. She is a research ambassador for the UK MS Society and the deputy editor of Neurology, which is the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Research interests

Multiple sclerosis, brain and spinal cord MRI, clinical stem cell transplantation in multiple sclerosis, disease modifying treatments in MS

Languages spoken

Italian

Publications

More than 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.

The more recent and relevant are:

  • Early imaging predictors of long-term outcomes in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis. Brownlee WJ, Altmann DR, Prados F, Miszkiel KA, Eshaghi A, Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott CAM, Barkhof F, Ciccarelli O. Brain. 2019 Aug 1;142(8):2276-2287. doi: 10.1093/brain/awz156.
  • Improved performance of the 2017 McDonald criteria for diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in children in a real-life cohort. Hacohen Y, Brownlee W, Mankad K, Chong WK', Thompson A, Lim M, Wassmer E, Hemingway C, Barkhof F, Ciccarelli O. Mult Scler. 2019 Jul 18:1352458519863781. doi: 10.1177/1352458519863781.
  • Spinal cord involvement in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders. Ciccarelli O, Cohen JA, Reingold SC, Weinshenker BG; International Conference on Spinal Cord Involvement and Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders. Lancet Neurol. 2019 Feb;18(2):185-197. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30460-5. Review.
  • Treating multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brownlee W, Bourdette D, Broadley S, Killestein J, Ciccarelli O. Neurology. 2020 Jun 2;94(22):949-952. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000009507. Epub 2020 Apr 2. PMID: 32241953 No abstract available.