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Professor Christopher J Mathias MBBS DPhil DSc FRCP FmedSci

Professor Christopher Mathias is Professor of Neurovascular Medicine in the University of London, with an appointment held jointly between Imperial College London and the Institute of Neurology, University College London. He has been a Consultant Physician at St Mary’s Hospital since 1982 and at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, since 1985. He qualified at St John’s Medical College, Bangalore University in 1972 where he won 8 College and 7 University Prizes, together with a Government of Mysore State Award for Distinction. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in 1972 where he began his research on the autonomic nervous system with Dr John Spalding in the Department of Neurology. 

In 1976, Oxford University awarded him the Doctorate of Philosophy for his research in humans on neurological and neurohormonal control of the cardiovascular system. From 1976-79 his clinical training continued in London at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital and in Portsmouth at St Mary’s Hospital and the Southampton University Renal Unit. In 1978, he completed his MRCP (UK). In 1979 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Clinical Science to work with Professor Sir Stanley Peart, FRS, at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, University of London. In 1984, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Lectureship in Medicine, which was held jointly between St Mary’s and the Institute of Neurology with Professor Sir Stanley Peart and Sir Roger Bannister. In 1987 he was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, London (FRCP).  In May 1991 the University of London conferred on him the title of Professor of Neurovascular Medicine. In 1995 London University awarded him the Doctorate of Science (DSc) in the Faculty of Science. In 2001, he was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).
 

He is Clinical Service and Research Director of two leading departments specialising in autonomic and neurovascular disorders, the Neurovascular Medicine Unit at St Mary’s Hospital and the Autonomic Unit at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London. They are tertiary referral centres for the entire country, with a number of referrals from Europe and worldwide. They deal with a variety of autonomic disorders that include abnormalities of blood pressure control (especially postural hypotension and fainting) and disorders of temperature regulation (including excessive sweating) in a wide range of neurological and medical diseases. His clinical commitments include responsibility for a Neurovascular/Autonomic/General Medicine clinic at St Mary’s, and an Autonomic Clinic at the National Hospital. He has admitting facilities at both hospitals. 

He leads a team of scientists and clinicians who research the role of the autonomic nervous system in health and disease. A variety of autonomic disorders ranging from neurally-mediated syncope to hyperhidrosis are studied, with special emphasis on cardiovascular autonomic disorders (in particular postural hypotension), a variety of neurological disorders (such as Parkinson’s disease), and medical disorders involving the autonomic nervous system (such as diabetes mellitus and familial amyloidosis). The clinical research output has resulted in the two departments gaining recognition as unique centres for their pioneering work in advancing the field. Funding is from various competitive and charitable sources. 

There have been over 350 publications in major specialist journals that focus on neurology, cardiovascular system, basic sciences and internal (general) medicine.  There have been numerous invited reviews in major journals, and chapters in international textbooks of neurological and cardiovascular medicine. He was Senior Co-Editor, with Sir Roger Bannister, of the 4th Edition of ‘Autonomic Failure: a Textbook of Clinical Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System’ by Oxford University Press, published in 1999, and reprinted in 2002. The 5th Edition of the textbook is due to be published shortly.

In addition to numerous lectures at national and international meetings, and guest lectures to national neurological societies (Scandinavian, Thailand etc), named lectures include the Professor Ruitinga, University of Amsterdam (1988), Dr J Thomas Memorial, St John’s Medical College, Bangalore University (1988), Lord Florey Memorial, University of Adelaide (1991), BP Regional, Royal College of Physicians London, at Leeds (1992), Sir Hugh Cairns Memorial, Adelaide (1996), Nimmo, University of Adelaide (1996), Allan Birch Memorial, London (1997), Abbie Memorial, University of Adelaide (1999), College Day, Royal College of Physicians, London (2001), Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation in Sydney (2001), Dr Paul Wahler Memorial, London Jewish Medical Society, London (2002), Inaugural, Portuguese Autonomic Society, Lisbon (2002), Prof Dr Robert L Muller Memorial, University of Erlangen (2002); 4th Professor Athasit Vejjajiva, Mahidol University, Bangkok (2003), Sir Roger Bannister at the 1st Joint European Federation and American Autonomic Societies Congress, Amsterdam (2004), 3rd Professor Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, Chennai (2005), 7th Valsalva, Bologna (2006), Shri Gopalakrishna Chennai (2006), Inaugural Northern Communities Health Foundation, Adelaide (2007), and Roche, Adelaide (2007). He has been Professor Ruitinga Visiting Professor, University of Amsterdam (1988), Nimmo Visiting Professor, University of Adelaide (1996), Visiting Professor, University of Hawaii (1999), and Inaugural Northern Communities Health Foundation Visiting Professor, South Australia (2007).

Membership of national and international committees include being a founding member of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society of Great Britain (as Secretary, 1982-1986 and Chairman, 1987-1990). He has served on Ethics Committees of St Mary’s and National Hospital, as a member of the North West Thames Regional Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards (1999-2001), and Chairman of the Dr P M Shankland (Pushpa Chopra) Charitable Trust Prize Fund (1999-2003). He was a member of an international review committee of the Danish National Research Foundation and on a joint ESA/NASA Neuroscience Review panel; he has been a Consultant to the European Space Agency.  He was Chairman, Research Group on Autonomic Disorders, World Federation of Neurology and Scientific Panel on the Autonomic Nervous System, European Federation of Neurological Societies, and on the Board of Directors, American Autonomic Society (1996-2004). Since 1996 he has been a Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Spinal Research Trust. He is Patron of the Autonomic Disorders Association, Sarah Matheson Trust (since 1996) and also the Syncope and Reflex Anoxic Seizures (STARS) Trust (since 2001). He was Foundation President of the European Federation of Autonomic Societies (1998-2004). He has served on three Task Forces, of the European Federation of Neurological Societies and American Spinal Injuries Association, and on two Consensus Groups, the last organised by the American Academy of Neurology, in Boston (2007). Since 2004, he has been Chairman of the Special Interest Group on Autonomic Disorders and NeuroRehabilitation of the World Federation of NeuroRehabilitation, member of the Secretary of State for Transport’s Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Disorders of the Nervous System, and is on the Board of Governors of the National Society of Epilepsy.

He referees clinical and scientific papers for a wide range of journals, is a scientific referee to major grant-giving bodies in the UK and abroad, and has been, or is, on various editorial boards. He founded the international journal, Clinical Autonomic Research, the official journal of the American Autonomic Society, Clinical Autonomic Research Society of Great Britain and European Federation of Autonomic Societies; from 1991-1995 he was Foundation Editor in Chief, and from 1995 he has been Co-editor in Chief. 

 

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