David Sharp
Image courtsey Imperial College London
- Born
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The brain is the most complex thing known to man; it contains more neural connections than there are stars in the observable universe. Professor David Sharp of Imperial College London is making it his life’s mission to try and understand it. Specifically, he is leading unique research into how the brain is affected after trauma in the hopes of developing novel treatments for patients.
Sharp’s research involves him trying to piece together brain networking processes in both healthy and post-injury individuals. Advanced neuroimaging techniques allow him to study the inflammation that occurs in the brain after trauma and to see what causes cognitive changes in people, e.g. memory loss, under these circumstances.
Such ground-breaking research can only be done by someone with an exceptional educational background. Sharp has just that, having graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in psychology, physiology, and philosophy, the University of Oxford and the University of London with a degree in medicine, and finally he also gained a Ph.D. from the University of London.
Putting all of this education into good use, Sharp began working with the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), where the majority of his research takes place. The programme that Sharp works on at the NIHR is currently in collaboration with the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. During combat, blast exposure can leave soldiers with horrific brain injuries, and so many of the soldier’s that came back from Afghanistan having suffered this fate have become a huge part of Sharp’s research.
In 2014, Sharp and his colleagues finally received recognition for their work when they won the first Rosetrees Interdisciplinary Prize. This was given because of the innovative technology used to monitor patient’s brains in his studies. They developed an in-ear device to replace the usual head cap, which can be both expensive and restrictive.
On top of this, Sharp is also the consultant neurologist for Imperial Private Healthcare at Imperial College University. This NHS Trust is one of the first of its kind in the UK, and it stands out by benefiting from collaboration between both research and education teams while working with patients to come up with innovative therapies and treatments.
David Sharp is both an intelligent an innovative scientist, who is driving important research in the area of brain injury. Very little is still know about the brain, but hopefully with the help of people like David, this won’t be a reality for much longer.