Dr Alison Yarnall is a clinical academic in geriatrics, focussing on older people with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. She is particularly concerned with how to make this research applicable to her every day clinical practice.

Dr Yarnall’s research focus to date is related to cognitive function, gait (including digital mobility) and falls. She is primarily interested in their neurobiological underpinning.

This work aligns with her role in the €50 million IMI MOBILISE-D project, and her active role within the Older People’s Medicine department at Newcastle Hospitals. She also runs a specialist clinic for older adults with Parkinson’s and complex health needs, in addition to a general medical memory clinic.

She has received a number of NIHR-focussed grants and trainee opportunities, which include:

1. NIHR Newcastle BRC-funded PhD on sarcopenia and frailty in prodromal dementia (where I am primary supervisor)
2. Muscle and Ageing in Science Study – Parkinson’s disease funded by NIHR Newcastle BRC – consisting of a small cohort who have been extensively phenotyped in terms of muscle activity
3. Dunhill Medical Trust funding to run a pilot intervention study, entitled Adjunctive Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Improving Neural control of Gait in Parkinson’s Disease (AdVaNSING-PD). The research is designed to improve gait parameters (and thus reduce falls risk) in Parkinson’s disease.