Professor David Wilkinson

Professor Wilkinson is founder and director of the Parkinson's Centre for Integrated Therapy. The Centre provides simple, comprehensive access to NICE-recommended and other evidence-based, non-pharmacological therapies for Parkinson’s disease and other long-term neurological conditions. The Centre also provides wellness treatments that include massage, group exercise, reflexology, acupuncture, dance, and social & therapeutic horticulture. Volunteer-led activities include an arts class, group singing and regular social events. The ethos is person-centred and multi-disciplinary, co-producing care plans that promote prevention and self-management, home-based monitoring, and the swift identification of new needs. Allied research is focused on trialling new methods of assessment and non-drug intervention including non-invasive neuro-stimulation. Volunteering, placements and training are offered to healthcare practitioners and life sciences students.

For information on the Centre please click here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/parkinsons and to see its latest promotional video then please click here: https://vimeo.com/1011257174

David's main research seeks to understand how the human vestibular system shapes cognition and mental well-being.  His group is particularly interested in developing and trialling non-invasive methods of vestibular stimulation to help overcome neuro-disability associated with brain injury and neuro-degeneration. 

Most of this research is conducted with the close support of clinical and commercial collaborators. In allied work, David's group seeks to understand more about how vestibular injury and disease compromises cognitive and emotional function. In all cases, the work is motivated by the fundamental aim of translating theoretical knowledge of vestibular cognition into clinically-relevant applications. 

Current PhD students

• Mayur Bodani: Neuro-stimulation in fatigue/sleep disorder

Past research students

• Saghi Arabi: The contribution of the vestibular system to temporal attention 
• Dr Annita Gkioka: Vestibular stimulation in visual spatial memory
• Dr Kamlya Marques: Vestibular stimulation in Parkinson’s disease 
• Dr Emma Denby: Neuropsychological outcomes in military veterans with traumatic brain injury (KentHealth studentship)
• Dr Laura Smith: Vestibular contributions to human memory
• Dr Serena Vanzan: The effects of vestibular stimulation on awareness
• Dr Olga Zubko: Sources of individual variability in face recognition
• Dr Rachael Morris: The effect of Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation on attention

Honorary positions

• Leadership team, British Society of Gerontology Special Interest Group for Ageing, Business & Society
• Expert Peer Reviewer, Parkinson’s UK College of Experts
• Clinical Advisory Board member, MindSpire Ltd
• Investigator, Geriatric Neuropsychology Laboratory, VA Boston Healthcare System & Harvard Medical School, Boston, U.S.A.

Professional membership

• Experimental Psychology Society
• Faculty member, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine

Grants and Awards

Can be disclosed on request.