Dr. Joseph Harbison

I am a Consultant Physician working in St James's Hospital Dublin, the largest hospital in the country. I helped establish the Stroke Service in this hospital and still work half time as a clinician there caring for patients and training Junior Doctors. I still participate in on-call medicine and am a Member of the National Clinical Advisory Group for Stroke. In addition I am a teacher and researcher in Trinity College Dublin

  Age related diseases   Ageing, stroke, dementia   Aging/Gerontology   Anatomy   Anticonvulsants   Brain   Clinical sleep research   Elderly Health   Gerontology   Medical/Diagnostic Imaging   Nervous System   Neurobiology   Neurochemistry and neuropharmacology   Neuroimaging   Neurology   Neuroscience   Pharmacology   Pharmacotherapy   Radiology, tomography and medical imaging   Sleep Disorders   Stroke   Stroke rehabilitation   Telemedicine

I have diverse interests both within and beyond medicine. I am interested in management of acute stroke and Cardiac Rhythm Disturbances, especially Atrial Fibrillation. I have previously collaborated in and published a number of papers in this area, most recently on the association between Atrial Fibrillation and Frailty in TILDA (in press in Age and Ageing). We are currently conducting a large national study of Anticoagulation Delivery for atrial fibrillation in Primary care and another prospective study of unsuccessful Anticoagulation in Stroke patients in coordination with The Irish National Audit of Stroke. In 2022 are about to start a study on the associations and outcomes of inpatient stroke through the National Audit of Stroke to attempt to characterise the extent and nature of the problem. I am also a member of the large and productive, international 'AF Screen' Collaboration and our most recent publication on Atrial Fibrillation and Cognitive Impairment is in press in Circulation. I am a collaborator with Irish Stroke Clinical Trails Network and am a member of the Network Executive Committee. I am collaborating in the NIHR funded, SNOBBSS Study developing a tool for identifying neurological change following stroke. I continue to act as a reviewer for the NIHR of other submitted projects. In Acute stroke we are beginning a study examining the feasibility of using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) as a means non-invasively investigating perfusion in Stroke Patients comparing outputs to Transcranial Doppler and CT Perfusion. My service is participating in a number of international trials including CONVINCE of Colchicine and stroke, ELAN on timing of Anticoagulation Therapy and AVERT DOSE on rehabilitation following stroke. We have participated in other trails including the DIAS 4 study, which was the first thrombolysis study conducted in Ireland and the ESCAPE trial, the first stroke Thromectomy study conducted here. We are partnering in additional rehabilitation research into use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to predict upper limb function in hemiplegic stroke survivors and assessing the utility of a new upper limb support developed in the unit. I have also participated in research in TILDA particularly in the area of neuroimaging and cerebrovascular disease. I have longstanding interests on white matter disease and fatigue following stroke and on Stroke Service Organisation. I have also previously been involved in health economic research on areas associated with stroke treatment and anticoagulation. We've recently completed work on how the Covid pandemic impacted delivery of acute stroke services in Ireland with a report published by the National Office of Clinical Audit and a complementary research paper revised and resubmitted for publication. I am a member of the FERES ADVISOR consortium which is examining the feasibility of federalising international stroke databases to allow immediate comparison of datasets. We have submitted a H2021 submission supporting this and development of an AI package. I have previously been a member of the successful EUROHYP consortium. Outside of Stroke and Geriatrics I am currently helping to supervise a study into head injury and white matter disease in Homeless people. In the area of Medical education I am supervising a Doctoral candidate researching how rapidly changing evidence bases in Medicine should be incorporated into undergraduate curricula. Outside of Medicine I have research interests in Medical History and have published papers on aspects of history related to the School of Medicine in Trinity. I have recently submitted on a paper on the first Hospital in Dublin. In other areas of education I have collaborated in research on mathematical knowledge in undergraduate teachers, and we are currently conducting a study enquiring how and if Medical Students use their mathematical knowledge.