Chris McDermott, Prof.

Prof McDermott studied for his medical degree at the University in Leeds graduating in 1994. He then continued his general medical and specialist neurology training in Leeds before taking up a clinical research training fellowship at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

He moved to the University of Sheffield with Professor Dame Pamela Shaw in 2000 to undertake his Wellcome Trust Research Training PhD Fellowship and to complete his Specialist Training in Neurology to become a Consultant Neurologist in 2006. Prof McDermott is now the Professor of Translational Neurology at SITraN and a Consultant Neurologist at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust regularly undertaking specialist MND and neuromuscular clinics in Sheffield. In 2022 he was awarded an NIHR Research Professorship.

The main drive of Prof McDermott’s research programme is developing the evidence base for delivering effective treatments and symptomatic care for patients living with motor neuron disease. He leads a number of research programmes aimed at improving care that is available for those living with MND. The programme has influenced national and international care practice. An important part of conducting research is ensuring the findings get to those that they affect. His group take research findings and support people living with MND and their carers to create interactive resources integrating their lived experience with the evidence so that individuals in the future can make the best decisions about options available to them. This approach has been recognised, with a number of awards for themyMND platform. https://mymnd.org.uk

Prof McDermott is an experienced ALS clinical trialist. He chairs the UK MND Clinical Studies Group and co-leads the UK MND Research Institute. He is co-leads the EXPERTS-ALS drug prioritisation platform which links NIHR BRC’s and other centres of research excellence.