This DRPLA Center of Excellence was accredited to Prof Paola Giunti and Dr Hector Garcia-Moreno from the London Ataxia Centre, at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology on March 26, 2025.
Clinical Services
The London Ataxia Centre provides a national service, with patients referred from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. A separate pediatric multidisciplinary clinic operates 4 times per year, serving children under the age of 16 in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England.
The London Ataxia Centre has close links with several other specialists with expertise in managing ataxia related symptoms, with direct referral pathways from the ataxia clinics for people with DRPLA in the following disciplines:
- Cardiology
- Gastroenterology
- Uro-Neurology (dedicated ataxia clinic)
- Audio-Vestibular service (dedicated ataxia clinic)
- Sleep Respiratory Medicine
- Orthotic Service
- Dietician Service
- Neuropsychiatry
- Neurophysiology
- Neuro-ophthalmology (dedicated ataxia clinic)
- Neuro-physiotherapy (dedicated ataxia clinic)
- Occupational Therapy (dedicated ataxia clinic)
- Speech and Language Therapy (dedicated ataxia clinic)
- Neuropsychology
- Neurological and spinal surgery
- Orthopedics
- Audio-vestibular service
- Specialist Spasticity Service
- Vocational Rehabilitation Service
- ENT Service
About the Applicants
Professor Paola Giunti is Professorial Research Associate and Honorary Consultant at UCL/UCLH. Paola Giunti studied medicine at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. She completed her training in neurology in the same university and obtained her PhD researching neurogenetic disorders and the dominant ataxias. Paola has a longstanding interest in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders, in particular the inherited cerebellar ataxias and other movement disorders.
She established the London Ataxia Centre in 2005, a robust model of translational clinical service. This has been accredited as the first center of clinical excellence in the UK by Ataxia UK, the charity of ataxia patients.
Dr Hector Garcia-Moreno has worked as a Clinical Research Fellow at the London Ataxia Centre since 2016. He achieved his medical degree at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) and completed his Neurology training at Hospital Clinico San Carlos (Madrid, Spain). He completed his PhD studies at UCL, with natural history and biomarkers projects in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3/Machado-Joseph disease, and xeroderma pigmentosum. Dr Garcia-Moreno has been leading the DRPLA-NHBS at UCL.
Contact Information
You can reach Prof Paola Giunti at paola.giunti@nhs.net, Dr Hector Garcia-Moreno at hector.garcia-moreno@nhs.net or by calling +44-02034483100.