Name Leone Ridsdale | ||
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Profession Neurologist, General Practitioner Research field Headache, Epilepsy, Chronic Fatigue Books Evidence-based General Practice: A Critical Reader | ||
Leone Ridsdale, is Professor of Neurology and General Practice at King's College London. Her research focus is on self-education for people with headache, chronic fatigue and epilepsy. Her educational focus is on developing teaching for medical students and graduates which aims to improve neurology patient care.
Contents
Training and interests
Ridsdale trained in economics and social policy at the London School of Economics, where she specialized in education and medical care. After lecturing on social and health care at Manchester University, she studied medicine at McMaster University Medical School. Her specialist training in medicine, psychiatry, and neurology was at McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute. She accredited as a neurologist in Canada and the US in 1980, returning to the UK.
Finding her specialist training was not recognised, Ridsdale trained and practiced as a GP. The formation of the United Medical & Dental School (UMDS) led to her setting up an MSc in General Practice. The course, combining social science and medical care, led to the publication of books.
In 1998 European harmonization of specialist recognition, led to Ridsdale being accredited as a UK neurologist, and with the merger of UMDS and King’s College, London, Ridsdale was appointed Director of Neurology MBBS Teaching. A new neurology curriculum focussed on common problems and core skills, with students reporting more confidence and competence, less ‘neurophobia’.
Chronic Fatigue
At UMDS Ridsdale did a multi-practice GP cohort study of patients with chronic fatigue, leading to a PhD. Poor recovery rates for patients with fatigue, led onto three trials testing therapies including counselling, cognitive-behaviour therapy and graded-exercise.
Headache
Linking neurology and general practice, Ridsdale and colleagues described the commonness of patients presenting with headache in general practice, why they were referred to neurologists, and the potential contribution of GPs with Special Interest and cognitive-behaviour therapists.
Epilepsy
Ridsdale described the commonness and unmet needs for self-education among people with epilepsy, testing interventions by specially trained nurses in three trials. Using general practice electronic records, Ridsdale and colleagues described risk factors for death in epilepsy, and the potential for identifying risks routinely, with step-up care aimed at reducing premature loss of life in epilepsy.
Ridsdale is the Chief Investigator on the SMILE Trial which is an NIHR funded randomized control trial in collaboration with Kings College Health Care Partners, London. It aims to assess the effectiveness of a course called “Self-Management education for adults with Epilepsy (SMILE-UK)” in helping those with poorly controlled epilepsy to deal with their seizures.
Personal life
Leone attended schools and college in Scandinavia, the UK, the United States and Canada, and adopted children from abroad. She did a Masters in Life-Writing, and collaborates with KCL’s English Department on Life-Writing research.