BIOGRAPHY

Masud read Physiological Sciences / Medicine (1981-84) at Oxford before completing his PhD here in 1987. He held a Harkness Fellowship and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, prior to returning to Oxford to finish his clinical degree. After Neurology training in London, he held a joint appointment as Consultant Neurologist and Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow (2000-12).

In 2013, he was awarded a Principal Fellowship by The Wellcome Trust and moved to Oxford where he is a Professorial Fellow at New College. Previously he was Professor of Clinical Neurology at UCL & The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, London and Deputy Director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

AWARDS

• Graham Bull Prize in Clinical Science, Royal College of Physicians London
• Elizabeth Warrington Prize, British Neuropsychological Society.
• Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences
• Fellow of American Academy of Neurology
• Fellow of European Academy of Neurology

• Wellcome Trust Principal Fellow
• Professorial Fellow, New College, Oxford
• Lead, Neurological Conditions theme, Oxford Biomedical Research Centre

RESEARCH SUMMARY

My research focuses on

• inattention
• disorders of memory
• impulsivity and apathy

Why are people inattentive or forget things quickly? Why do some people act impulsively while others just can't be bothered?

All these problems occur to some extent in healthy people. But they can be profoundly disabling in patients with neurological conditions - from stroke, through neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease to developmental disorders such as ADHD.

Currently, there are very limited treatments. Understanding underlying mechanisms is therefore crucial.

We've developed techniques to examine attention, short-term or working memory and decision-making in healthy people and patients with neurological disorders.

We've begun to understand some of the brain mechanisms that are disrupted when people don't pay attention, or forget information rapidly, when they make impulsive decisions or just can't be motivated to act. Some of our research has led to novel treatments.

We see patients in the Cognitive Disorders Clinic at the John Radcliffe Hospital and the Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, Dept of Experimental Psychology.

Our research on fundamental mechanisms underlying attention, working memory and motivated decision-making in healthy people is conducted in our labs at the Dept of Experimental Psychology and the West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital.