MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre, University of Oxford

Laurent Servais is a Professor of Paediatric Neuromuscular Diseases at the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre and Invited Professor of Child Neurology at Liège University.

After graduating from Louvain Medical School, Brussels, Belgium in 1999, he completed a PhD in Neuroscience (cerebellar electrophysiology in alert living mice) from Free University of Brussels, Belgium, followed by residencies in child neurology at the Free University of Brussels and Robert Debré Hospital, Paris. In 2008, he took a position in neuromuscular disease and clinical research at the Institute of Myology in Paris, where his interest and expertise in neuromuscular diseases flourished. He was subsequently appointed Head of Clinical Trials and Database Services. Most recently, he served as Head of the Institute of Myology’s I-Motion (Institute Of Muscle-Oriented Translational Innovation), and Head of the Neuromuscular Centre in Liège, Belgium. He has joined the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre and the University of Oxford as of September 2019.

Laurent has been involved as principal investigator in numerous clinical trials to test treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

He is the leader of the newborn screening programme for SMA in southern Belgium where they are conducting a medico-economic analysis of newborn screening. His main research expertise covers the development of innovative outcome measures, including connected devices for real-life patients’ evaluation.

Dr Stefen Brady is a Neurologist and Specialist Neuromuscular Consultant. He studied medicine at Trinity College Medical School in Dublin, Ireland and completed his higher specialist neurology training in Yorkshire. He trained in muscle diseases with Dr David Hilton-Jones at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and with Prof. Mike Hanna and Prof. Janice Holton at MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases in London. 

Dr Brady was an MDUK funded Clinical Fellow. He was awarded a DPhil by the University of Oxford for his thesis, A Clinicopathological Study of Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), in 2014. Following his clinical fellowship, he was funded by Myositis UK to complete a Senior Clinical Research Fellowship at the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases in London.

Dr Brady has worked as a Specialist Neuromuscular Consultant since 2016. He leads the multidisciplinary Oxford Adult Muscle Service and works for the nationally commissioned NHS Highly Specialised Services for Rare Mitochondrial Disorders in Oxford.

Sithara Ramdas has been a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Oxford Children’s Hospital since 2016, and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer with the University of Oxford since 2018. She completed her higher specialist training in Paediatric Neurology and sub-specialisation in neuromuscular disorders at the King’s College Hospital and the Evelina Children’s Hospital, London.

She undertakes full time clinical practice in Paediatric Neurology. Her areas of specialist interest are in Neuromuscular Disorders and Neuroimmunology. She leads a specialist Multi-disciplinary Paediatric Neuromuscular Clinic which is the regional neuromuscular service covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Wiltshire.  She also works in the National Highly Specialised Service for Congenital Myasthenia Syndromes and Neuromyelitis Optica.

She leads the research and clinical trials in the paediatric neurology department.

Laura Chiverton is the Clinical Trials Co-ordinator and Operations Manager for STRONG, led by Professor Laurent Servais at the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre, University of Oxford. She manages a portfolio of academic and industry led studies in the paediatric neuromuscular field.

Laura is a qualified nurse and has four years of experience working as a research nurse managing a portfolio of neuromuscular and renal research trials. Laura has recently joined STRONG and is excited to be working with such a dynamic team.

Since my Masters degree in Physiotherapy obtained in June 2013, I started to work in September 2013 as Physiotherapist at the Institute of Myology; a centre specialized in care and research in adult and paediatric neuromuscular diseases. Over the course of my career, I have participated in the creation of the I-Motion Institute, and was the Physiotherapy Coordinator for an international natural history study in Myotubular Myopathy. 

I am also a part of the ActiMyo team, composed of engineers and clinicians. This innovative device uses magneto-inertial sensors to permit movement, gait and activity analysis in uncontrolled environments, and one of its application has been qualified by the European Medical Agency as a clinical endpoint in clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. My role is to give a physiotherapy point of view and input, and to train the physiotherapists conducting the clinical trials. Since 2018, I’m a Master trainer and consultant for scales and outcome measures used in neuromuscular clinical trials and clinics.

After more than six years of collaboration with Laurent Servais in Paris, I decided to join his team within the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre, a partnership between the University of Oxford and Muscular Dystrophy UK to drive the development of new therapies and increase national clinical trial capacity in neuromuscular diseases. .  

Hayley is a Specialist Neuromuscular Physiotherapist, at Oxford University Hospitals. She sees a large cohort of patients with neuromuscular conditions, who access Oxford as their tertiary centre for neuromuscular and respiratory care.

She supports the Oxford diagnosis specific multidisciplinary clinics, which run on a weekly basis and also provides outreach support to general neurology clinics and offers community and hospital visits as required.

Within her role she supports patients in their orthopaedic and respiratory management, offering input during planned and unplanned admissions and linking in with other members of the wider multidisciplinary team and community therapists.

She is also a part of the Oxford Congenital Myasthenia Service. This is a nationally funded service, which includes both paediatric and adult patients. She is currently working on projects in collaboration with other specialist physiotherapy colleagues, on the application of outcome measures and exercise advice in this patient cohort.

As an Assistant Clinical Trial Manager at the Oxford (JR Hospital), my role is to support the set-up and coordination of our clinical research portfolio, including natural history studies & also clinical trials of an investigational medicinal product and gene replacement therapy. This includes early approvals, start-up, and maintenance and close out of clinical studies. I also support the studies at a very early stage from feasibility to costing negotiations to the set-up and monitoring delivery of research, ensuring research studies that are conducted adhere to Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

Our team called STRONG (specialised translational research oxford neuromuscular group) focuses on research into early identification, potential treatments and early intervention of rare paediatric neuromuscular diseases. As a clinical trial coordinator, I have the responsibility for the delivery of a portfolio of trials, in these areas, from set up to closeout whilst ensuring trial quality and data integrity. It is an extremely dynamic role ranging from liaising with a multidisciplinary team, interacting with patients to processing bloods alongside learning about the biological mechanisms and presentation of paediatric neuromuscular diseases.

Rebecca has been a Family Care Advisor at the John Radcliffe Hospital since July 2016, working mainly with the paediatric neuromuscular service but also with the mitochondrial team. She shares the mitochondrial FCA role with her colleague, Heather Ryan, tending to concentrate on paediatric work. She graduated as an Occupational Therapist from Northumbria University in 1992, and gained an MA in Play Therapy from the University of York in 2003. She has worked mainly in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), though she has also worked in learning and physical disabilities and in community paediatrics. Before her current role she spent 14 years as a Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist in CAMHS in Swindon.

Gita Thapaliya is currently an Clinical Trial Manager for STRONG (specialised translational research oxford neuromuscular group) working on a portfolio of academic and industry-led studies in the paediatric neuromuscular field. Gita graduated from King’s College London in Nutrition. She then moved to the University of Nottingham to complete her PhD, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins Medicine in the United States. Gita has worked in academic units at the University of Nottingham and Johns Hopkins conducting her own research, as well as supporting investigators to conduct high-quality clinical research in therapeutic areas including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity and ADHD.