Not just a pain: Aspects and impact of migraines

Nazia is a final year Neurology SpR in London and Surrey and also works as a Headache Clinical Research Fellow at King’s College London in the Headache Group, under Professor Peter Goadsby.

Her research and clinical interests lie in the primary headache disorders, in particular, the non-painful parts of the migraine attack and increasing understanding of these through experimental research and functional neuroimaging. Her PhD research was funded by an Association of British Neurologists and Guarantors of Brain Clinical Research Training Fellowship and examined the premonitory phase of migraine, in particular, using pharmacological provocation and functional MR methods. She has published in this area, as well as in other areas related to the neurobiology of headache in general. She is currently supported by a short-term project award from the Migraine Trust and continues to pursue clinical research in these areas of interest. She has previously been awarded the AAN Headache Abstract of Distinction 2018 and the AHS Early Career Lecture Award 2020.

Dr Afridi trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School. Following her medical training in London she completed her PhD in Neurology at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square looking at functional imaging in migraine. She then went on to complete her higher training in London.

Dr Afridi has been a consultant neurologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals since 2013 where she established the headache service in the neurology department and also works in the nationally commissioned Neurofibromatosis centre. She is an honorary senior lecturer at King’s College, London.

She has been on the council for BASH (British Association for the Study of Headache) and is a trustee for the Migraine Trust. She is also on the scientific committee for the Migraine Trust International Symposium.