Dearbhla Kelly, MB BCh BAO MSc DPhil MRCPI
Academic Nephrologist
To reduce the scale and impact of dementia in later life, we need to screen for and better control hypertension (high blood pressure) in midlife.
Current Work
Dearbhla Kelly is an academic nephrologist who is currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Philip Kistler Stroke Research Center within the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is studying the intersection of kidney disease and cognitive brain health.
Personal Hero
My patients
Words of Strength
Interdisciplinary interests
Vision
To reduce the scale and impact of dementia in later life, Dearbhla believes we need to screen for and better control hypertension (high blood pressure) in midlife.
Strategy
Dearbhla is examining the impact of kidney disease on stroke and dementia risk, mechanisms, and outcomes, using population-based cohorts, big-data, and Mendelian Randomization analyses.
Impact
As an Atlantic Fellow, Dearbhla aims to disentangle and better understand the relationships between blood pressure, kidney disease, and dementia.
Motivation
Recent work from the Oxford Vascular Study has demonstrated that the incidence of dementia is nearly 50 times higher in the year after a major stroke compared with that in the general population.
Education & Experience
Dearbhla is an Irish Nephrology and Internal Medicine Fellow. She received her Medical Degree from University College Cork, Diploma in Cerebrovascular Disease from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Diploma in Clinical Neurology from University College London, and holds two Masters degrees from the University of Edinburgh (Internal Medicine) and from the Danube University Krems (Stroke Medicine). She completed a DPhil in Clinical Neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Peter Rothwell. Her area of interest is the overlap between renal and neurological diseases. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of stroke in patients with chronic kidney disease, potential mechanisms including the role of hypertension, outcomes, preventative strategies, and treatment strategies. She is also interested in cognitive disorders in patients with kidney disease and the impact of blood pressure on brain health.
Awards & Honors
Featured Publications
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