Dr Emily Henderson is an Associate Professor of Ageing and Movement Disorders at the University of Bristol and Honorary Academic Consultant Geriatrician. She leads the Ageing and Movement Research Group (AMRG) in Population Health Sciences running a translational programme of research in neurodegenerative disease, falls and cognition. This spans basic science through to phase III, multicentre clinical drug trials, healthcare service innovation and education. This >£20million collaborative portfolio improves quality of life for older people and those with neurodenerative conditions through clinical trials, service innovation and pedagogical research.  

Preventing falls in Parkinson's disease

In 2011, Emily set up and ran the ReSPonD (Rivastigmine to Stabilise Gait in Parkinson’s Disease) trial. This double blind, placebo controlled, randomised  control trial sought to determine whether cholinesterase inhibitor therapy can stabilise gait and balance in people with Parkinson’s disease.  She recruited 130 participants in <6 months to time and target and published the positive findings as first author in the published in the Lancet Neurology in 2016.

Emily is the Chief Investigator of the £2.1 million NIHR multicentre durg trial, CHIEF PD. The trial has now recruited over 380 participants across the UK and will provide definitive evidence as to the clinical and cost effectiveness of rivastigmine for falls in Parkinson's.

Innovating Parkinson's care

In 2019 she was awarded, as co-Principal Investigator, a £10 million grant from the Gatsby foundation to innovate Parkinson’s care. Proactive and Integrated Mangement and Empowerment in Parkinson's Disease (PRIME Parkinson’s) is a collaboration with Radboud University in the Netherlands, the University of Bristol and Royal United Hospitals Bath, that shares expertise and facilities to deliver this world-leading research.

Pedagogical research 

Emily led development of the novel 18-week Complex Medicine in Older People (CMOP) geriatrics curriculum in the new MB21 Medical School undergraduate curriculum. This undergraduate teaching programme is now successfully delivered across all 7 Clinical Academies in the South West. A funding award from the Dunhill Medical Trust has enable a doctoral position to evaluate the effectiveness of new innovative educational methods on attitudes towards older people and knowledge of geriatrics. 

Clinical expertise

Emily is a Consultant Geriatrician at the Royal United Hospital in Bath and clinical expert in Parkinson's and related disorders and medicine in older people.

Wider academic citizenship

From inception until 2018, she was the Lead for the South West Parkinson’s Excellence Network. She has organised conferences and delivered lectures at national and international meetings and at the Royal College of Physicians in London. She is Lead for Ageing in the West of England Clinical Research Network (CRN). Nationally, she is immediate past Chair of the British Geriatric Society - Movement Disorder Section (BGS-MDS), sits on the National Parkinson’s Disease Portfolio Development Group (PD-PDG) and is a Faculty member of the Parkinson's Academy. She is Vice President of Academic Affairs for the British Geriatrics Society and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.