Alan J. Thompson is Dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences at University College London, Garfield Weston Professor of Clinical Neurology and Neurorehabilitation at the UCL Institute of Neurology, a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, and Chair of the Neuroscience Programme at the UCLP Academic Health Sciences Centre. His main area of expertise is in demyelinating disease, particularly the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of multiple sclerosis (MS), focusing on the pathological mechanisms that underpin neurological disability and recovery using structural and functional imaging. He has published extensively in these areas in high-impact journals. A further focus is neurorehabilitation, and as Dean, he leads comprehensive programmes of research in dementia and mental health within the Faculty. Professor Thompson is chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Progressive MS Alliance, a Senior Investigator for the National Institute for Health Research, Editor-in-Chief for Multiple Sclerosis Journal, and a Guarantor of Brain. He received his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Trinity College Dublin, and an honorary doctorate from Hasselt University, Belgium.