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Consultant Neurologist

Dr Isaacs is a consultant neurologist at St George’s and Kingston Hospitals. He has a specialist interest in cognitive neurology and dementia and is National Clinical Director for Dementia and Older People’s Mental Health at NHS England.

He is clinical lead for the multi-disciplinary Cognitive Neurology service at St George’s Hospital which provides diagnosis, treatment and support for all types of cognitive disorder, including young-onset and atypical dementias, and a support group for people living with Young Onset Dementia.

Professional profile

Dr Isaacs studied medicine at Cambridge and UCL and held postgraduate research posts at KCL Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and UCL Institute of Neurology.  His PhD  was on the immunology of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Dr Isaacs was a member of the NICE 2018 dementia guideline committee and chaired the NICE self-harm guideline committee. From 2019-2024 he was Clinical Director of the NHS London Dementia Clinical Network, where he established the London Memory Service Network, produced guidance on memory service pathway redesign, joint working and multidisciplinary meetings and designed and led the first London and national memory service audits. He served on the Association of British Neurologists Cognitive Neurology Advisory Group and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Young Onset Dementia Services Working Group and as a Director of the British Neuropsychiatry Association.

Dr Isaacs is Honorary Reader in Neurology at City St George’s, University of London where he is Director of the Neurosciences Clinical Academic Group.  He developed and co-directs the City St George’s MSc in Clinical Neuroscience Practice. He has research interests in Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and functional cognitive disorders. He is a co-investigator on grants from Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and British Heart Foundation totalling > £1 million.

Memberships

  • Member: Royal College of Physicians (UK)
  • MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship; 2003-06
  • Member: Association of British Neurologists
  • Member: British Neuropsychiatry Association
  • Director and Trustee: British Neuropsychiatry Association; 2022-25

Publications

Hazan J, Liu KY, Isaacs JD, Howard R. Cut-points and grey zones: the challenges of integrating Alzheimer’s disease plasma biomarkers into clinical practice.  Alzheimers Dement (N Y), in press

Development of a diagnostic checklist to identify functional cognitive disorder versus other neurocognitive disorders. Cabreira V, Alty J, Antic S, Araujo R, Aybek S, Ball HA, Baslet G, Bhome R, Coebergh J, Dubois B, Edwards M, Filipovic SR, Frederiksen KS, Harbo T, Hayhow B, Howard R, Huntley J, Isaacs JD, LaFrance C, Larner A, Di Lorenzo F, Main J, Mallam E, Marra C, Massano J, McGrath ER, Portela Moreira I, Nobili F, Pal S, Pennington CM, Tábuas-Pereira M, Perez D, Popkirov S, Rayment D, Rossor M, Russo M, Santana I, Schott J, Scott EP, Taipa R, Teodoro T, Tinazzi M, Tomic S, Toniolo S, Tørring CW, Wilkinson T, Zeidler M, Frostholm L, McWhirter L, Stone J, Carson A. BMJ Neurol Open. 2025. 7(1):e000918. doi: 10.1136/bmjno-2024-000918.

Hainsworth AH, Blackburn TP, Bradshaw EM, Elahi FM, Gorelick PB, Isaacs JD, Wallin A, Williams SCR. The Promise of Molecular Science in Brain Health. What breakthroughs are anticipated in the next 20 years? Cereb Circ Cogn Behav. 2024. 22;7:100364. doi: 10.1016/j.cccb.2024.100364.

Hazan J,  Liu KY, Costello H, Isaacs JD, Thambisetty M, Howard R.  Challenges in a biological definition of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 2024. 12;103(9):e209884. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209884.

Hazan J, Liu KY, Isaacs JD, Mukadam N. Dementia diagnosis rates and the impact of ethnicity, rurality and deprivation. Aging Ment Health. 2024. 16:1-7. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2024.2374936.

Cabreira V, Alty J, Antic S, Araújo R, Aybek S, Ball HA, Baslet G, Bhome R, Coebergh J, Dubois B, Edwards M, Filipović SR, Frederiksen KS, Harbo T, Hayhow B, Howard R, Huntley J, Isaacs J, et al. Perspectives on the diagnosis and management of functional cognitive disorder: An international Delphi study. Eur J Neurol. 2024;3:e16318. doi: 10.1111/ene.16318.

Clark CN , Poole N, Isaacs JD, MacKinnon AD, Rich P, Bridges LR, Jaunmuktane Z, Caruana Galizia E. Argyrophilic grain disease and co-pathologies in an older patient with a rapidly progressive neuropsychiatric syndrome. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2024;50(2):e12973. doi: 10.1111/nan.12973.

Isaacs JD. Mild cognitive impairment: not much harm; not much help. BJPsych Open, 2023;9(6):e184. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2023.565.

Laurell AAS, Venkataraman AV, Schmidt T, Montagnese M, Mueller C, Stewart R, Lewis J, Mundell C, Isaacs JD, Krishnan MS, Barber R, Rittman T, Underwood BR. Estimating demand for potential disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease in the UK.  Br J Psychiatry. 2024 Jan 18:1-7. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2023.166.

Pauls MMH, Fish J, Binnie LR, Benjamin P, Betteridge S, Clarke B, Dhillon MPK, Ghatala R, Hainsworth FAH, Howe FA, Khan U, Kruuse C, Madigan JB, Moynihan B, Patel B, Pereira AC, Rostrup E, Shtaya ABY, Spilling CA, Trippier S, Williams R, Young R, Barrick TR, Isaacs JD, Hainsworth AH. Testing the acute cognitive effects of tadalafil. Neuropsychological outcomes from the PASTIS trial. Cereb Circ Cogn Behav. 2023:5:100187. doi: 10.1016/j.cccb.2023.100187.

Hainsworth AH, Arancio O, Elahi FM, Isaacs JD, Cheng F.  PDE5 inhibitor drugs for use in dementia. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2023;9(3):e12412. doi: 10.1002/trc2.12412.

Hazan J, Liu K, Isaacs JD, Burns A; Howard R.  Has COVID-19 affected dementia diagnosis rates in England? Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2023 Jul;38(7):e5976. doi: 10.1002/gps.5976.

Teodoro T, Koreki A, Chen J, Coebergh J, Poole N, Ferreira JJ, Edwards MJ, Isaacs JD. Functional cognitive disorder affects reaction time, subjective mental effort and global metacognition.  Brain 2023;146(4):1615-1623. doi: 10.1093/brain/awac363.

Isaacs JD. Alzheimer’s disease: Have we opened the Golden Gate to disease-modifying therapy? Cereb Circ Cogn Behav. 2022;100156. doi.org/10.1016/j.cccb.2022.100156.

Wallin A, Alladi S, Black SE, Chen C, Greenberg SM, Gustafson D, Isaacs JD, Jokinen H, Kalaria R, Mok V, Pantoni L, Pasquier F, Roman GC, Rosenberg GA, Schmidt R, Smith EE, Hainsworth AH.  What does aducanumab treatment of Alzheimer’s disease mean for research on vascular cognitive disorders? Cereb Circ Cogn Behav. 2022;3:100044. doi.org/10.1016/j.cccb.2022.100044

Anad A, Barker MK, Katanga JA, Arfanakis K, Bridges LR, Esiri MM, Isaacs JD, Prpar Mihevc S, Pereira AC, Schneider JA, Hainsworth AH. Vasculocentric Axonal NfH in Small Vessel Disease.  J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2022;81(3):182-192. doi: 10.1093/jnen/nlab134.

Pauls MMH, Binnie LR, Benjamin P, Betteridge S, Clarke B, Dhillon MK, Ghatala R, Hainsworth FAH, Howe FA, Khan U, Kruuse C, Madigan JB, Moynihan B, Patel B, Pereira AC, Rostrup E, Shtaya ABY, Spilling CA, Trippier S, Williams R, Young R, Barrick TR, Isaacs JD, Hainsworth AH.  The PASTIS trial: Testing tadalafil for possible use in vascular cognitive impairment.  Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2022;18(12):2393-2402. doi: 10.1002/alz.12559.

Cook LD, Souris H, Isaacs JD. Differences in care between younger and older patients in the 2019 English national memory service audit. BJPsych Bull. 2022;46(6):315-321. doi: 10.1192/bjb.2021.104.

Binnie LR, Pauls MMH, Benjamin P, Dhillon MK, Betteridge S, Clarke B, Ghatala R, Hainsworth FAH, Howe FA, Khan U, Kruuse C, Madigan JB, Moynihan B, Patel B, Pereira AC, Rostrup E, Shtaya ABY, Spilling CA, Trippier S, Williams R, Isaacs JD, Barrick TR, Hainsworth AH.  Test-retest reliability of arterial spin labelling for cerebral blood flow in older adults with small vessel disease.  Transl Stroke Res. 2022;13(4):583-594. doi: 10.1007/s12975-021-00983-5.

Dunne RA, Aarsland D, O’Brien JT, Ballard C, Banerjee S, Fox NC, Isaacs JD, Underwood BR, Perry RJ, Chan D, Dening T, Thomas AJ, Schryer J, Jones AM, Evans AR, Alessi C, Coulthard EJ, Pickett J, Elton P, Jones RW, Mitchell S, Hooper N, Kalafatis C, Rasmussen JGC, Martin H, Schott JM, Burns A. Mild Cognitive Impairment: the Manchester Consensus.  Age Ageing. 2021;50(1):72-80. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afaa228.

Ball HA, McWhirter L, Ballard B, Bhome R, Blackburn DJ, Edwards MJ, Fleming SM, Fox NC, Howard R, Huntley J, Isaacs JD, Larner AJ, Nicholson TR, Pennington CM, Poole N, Price G, Price JP, Reuber M, Ritchie C, Rossor MN, Schott JM, Teodoro T, Venneri A, Stone J, Carson AJ. Functional Cognitive Disorder – dementia’s blind spot. Brain. 2020. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaa224.

Richardson D, McEntagart MM, Isaacs JD.  DCTN1-related Parkinson-plus disorder (Perry syndrome). Pract Neurol. 2020. doi: 10.1136/practneurol-2020-002505.

Barrick TR, Spilling CA, Ingo C, Madigan J, Isaacs JD, Rich P, Jones TL, Magin RL, Hall MG, Howe FA.  Quasi-diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (QDI): A fast, high b-value diffusion imaging technique.  Neuroimage. 2020. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116606.

Isaacs JD, Boenink M. Dementia biomarkers: too soon for routine clinical use.  Lancet Neurol. 2020;19:884-885. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30365-3.

Poole NA, Cope SR, Bailey C, Isaacs JD. Functional cognitive disorders: identification and management. BJPsych Advances. 2019;25:342-350. doi: 10.1192/bja.2019.38

Alber J, Alladi S, Bae HJ, Barton DA, Beckett LA, Bell JM, Berman SE, Biessels GJ, Black SE, Bos I, Bowman GL, Brai E, Brickman AM, Callahan BL, Corriveau RA, Fossati S, Gottesman RF, Gustafson DR, Hachinski V, Hayden KM, Helman AM, Hughes TM, Isaacs JD, Jefferson AL, Johnson SC, Kapasi A, Kern S, Kwon JC, Kukolja J, Lee A, Lockhart SN, Murray A, Osborn KE, Power MC, Price BR, Rhodius-Meester HFM, Rondeau JA, Rosen AC, Rosene DL, Schneider JA, Scholtzova H, Shaaban CE, Silva NCBS, Snyder HM, Swardfager W, Troen AM, van Veluw SJ, Vemuri P, Wallin A, Wellington C, Wilcock DM, Xie SX, Hainsworth AH. White matter hyperintensities in vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID): Knowledge gaps and opportunities. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2019;5:107-117. doi: 10.1016/j.trci.2019.02.001. eCollection 2019. Review.

Cook LD, Nichol KE, Isaacs JD. The London memory service audit and quality improvement programme. BJPsych Bull. 2019;22:215-220. doi: 10.1192/bjb.2019.18.

Teodoro T, Edwards MJ, Isaacs JD. A unifying theory for cognitive abnormalities in functional neurological disorders, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: systematic review. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2018;89:1308-1319. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2017-317823.

Pauls MM, Moynihan B, Barrick TR, Kruuse C, Madigan JB, Hainsworth AH, Isaacs JD. The effect of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors on cerebral blood flow in humans: A systematic review. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2018;38:189-203. doi: 10.1177/0271678X17747177.

Ritchie CW, Russ TC, Banerjee S, Barber B, Boaden A, Fox NC, Holmes C, Isaacs JD, Leroi I, Lovestone S, Norton M, O’Brien J, Pearson J, Perry R, Pickett J, Waldman AD, Wong WL, Rossor MN, Burns A. The Edinburgh Consensus: preparing for the advent of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2017;9:85. doi: 10.1186/s13195-017-0312-4.

Pauls MMH, Clarke N, Trippier S, Betteridge S, Howe FA, Khan U, Kruuse C, Madigan JB, Moynihan B, Pereira AC, Rolfe D, Rostrup E, Haig CE, Barrick TR, Isaacs JD, Hainsworth AH. Perfusion by Arterial Spin labelling following Single dose Tadalafil In Small vessel disease (PASTIS): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2017;18:229. doi: 10.1186/s13063-017-1973-9.

Caruana Galizia E, Isaacs JD, Cock HR. Non-hyperammonaemic valproate encephalopathy after 20 years of treatment. Epilepsy Behav Case Rep. 2017;8:9-11. doi: 10.1016/j.ebcr.2017.04.002. eCollection 2017.

Hainsworth AH, Allan SM, Boltze J, Cunningham C, Farris C, Head E, Ihara M, Isaacs JD, Kalaria RN, Lesnik Oberstein SA, Moss MB, Nitzsche B, Rosenberg GA, Rutten JW, Salkovic-Petrisic M, Troen AM. Translational models for vascular cognitive impairment: a review including larger species. BMC Med. 2017;15:16. doi: 10.1186/s12916-017-0793-9.

Mantoan Ritter L, Isaacs JD, McEntagart M, O’Dwyer JP. Clinical reasoning: rapidly progressive quadriparesis in a forgetful patient. Neurology. 2013;81:e154-8. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000436063.12890.b2.

Isaacs JD, Bodini B, Ciccarelli O, Scadding GK, Thompson AJ. Atopic myelitis in a European woman residing in Japan. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2011;82:1022-4. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2009.186775.

Coddington CT, Isaacs JD, Siddiqui AQ, Andrews TC. Neurological picture. Bilateral facial nerve palsy associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2010;81:1155-6. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2009.195313.

Isaacs JD, Adams M, Lees AJ. Noncompressive myelopathy associated with violent axial tics of tourette syndrome. Neurology. 2010;74:697-8. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181d0cc77.

Ingram RJ*, Isaacs JD*, Kaur G, Lowther DE, Reynolds CJ, Boyton RJ, Collinge J, Jackson GS, Altmann DM. A role of cellular prion protein in programming T-cell cytokine responses in disease. FASEB J. 2009;23:1672-84. doi: 10.1096/fj.08-116087. *Joint first author.

Isaacs JD, Garden OA, Kaur G, Collinge J, Jackson GS, Altmann DM. The cellular prion protein is preferentially expressed by CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Immunology. 2008;125:313-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2567.2008.02853.x.

Runne H, Kuhn A, Wild EJ, Pratyaksha W, Kristiansen M, Isaacs JD, Régulier E, Delorenzi M, Tabrizi SJ, Luthi-Carter R. Analysis of potential transcriptomic biomarkers for Huntington’s disease in peripheral blood. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007;104:14424-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0703652104.

Isaacs JD, Dean AF, Shaw CE, Al-Chalabi A, Mills KR, Leigh PN. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with sensory neuropathy: part of a multisystem disorder?. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2007;78:750-3. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2006.098798.

Dalrymple A, Wild EJ, Joubert R, Sathasivam K, Björkqvist M, Petersén A, Jackson GS, Isaacs JD, Kristiansen M, Bates GP, Leavitt BR, Keir G, Ward M, Tabrizi SJ. Proteomic profiling of plasma in Huntington’s disease reveals neuroinflammatory activation and biomarker candidates. J Proteome Res. 2007;6:2833-40. doi: 10.1021/pr0700753.

Isaacs JD, Ingram RJ, Collinge J, Altmann DM, Jackson GS. The human prion protein residue 129 polymorphism lies within a cluster of epitopes for T cell recognition. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2006;65:1059-68. doi: 10.1097/01.jnen.0000240467.18381.49.

Isaacs JD, Jackson GS, Altmann DM. The role of the cellular prion protein in the immune system. Clin Exp Immunol. 2006;146:1-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2006.03194.x.

Björkqvist M, Petersén A, Bacos K, Isaacs J, Norlén P, Gil J, Popovic N, Sundler F, Bates GP, Tabrizi SJ, Brundin P, Mulder H. Progressive alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the R6/2 transgenic mouse model of Huntington’s disease. Hum Mol Genet. 2006;15:1713-21. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddl094.

Isaacs JD, Rakshi J, Baker R, Brooks DJ, Warrens AN. Chorea associated with thyroxine replacement therapy. Mov Disord. 2005;20:1656-7. doi: 10.1002/mds.20603.

Isaacs JD. D D Cunningham and the aetiology of cholera in British India, 1869-1897. Med Hist. 1998;42:279-305.  DOI: 10.1017/s0025727300063997.