Orla is a Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, Professor of Neurology and Head of the Academic Unit of Neurology in Trinity College Dublin and the HSE National Clinical Lead for Neurology.
She became a consultant neurologist in 1996 and a clinician scientist at TCD in 2007. She is an international leader in Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. She leads the Irish ALS Clinical service, and the Irish ALS Research Group.
She completed her residency and Fellowship in Neurology at the Harvard Partners Programme, Boston Massachusetts and was a Newman Scholar & College Lecturer in Physiology at UCD.
Her research programmes are in:
- genomics
- epidemiology
- biomarker development
- deep phenotyping
- clinical trials
- outcome measures
- clinical measurement
- drug development
- health economics
- service development
Orla is Co-Chair of the European Consortium to Cure ALS (ENCALS), Chair of the Scientific Committee of the annual ENCALS meeting, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and the Frontotemporal Degenerations (the official journal of the World Federation of Neurology subgroups on ALS and Cognition), and Secretary/Treasurer of the WFN Subcommittee on ALS.
She is also a Principal Investigator on the Latin American Epidemiology Consortium (funded by the US Centre for Disease Control)
Recent Publications
Current Awards
Walk While You Can
Funding for Assistant Professorhsip in Signal Analysis
€300,000
Iris O’Brien Foundation
Studying the Healthcare Ecosystem in Neurodegeneration
€200,000
Andrew Lydon Foundation
Exploring imaging Changes in ALS
€100,000
HRB/MRCG
Signal Analysis in ALS (Co-PI with Dr. Bahman Nassereloslami)
€180,000
HRB/MRCG
Finding Clinical Meaningfulness (Co-PI with Dr. Deirdre Murray)
€150,000
Connect with Orla
Research Motor Neurone
Research Motor Neurone (RMN) is an institute researching Motor Neurone Disease, also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It is based in Trinity College Dublin and is headed by Professor Orla Hardiman.