Dr Anna Andreou

Dr Anna Andreou is the lead of the Headache Research lab and a senior lecturer at King’s College London. The Headache Research lab has a translational scope aiming to directly benefit patients from the debilitating effects of headaches and facial pain. The lab aims to identify neurobiological mechanisms of headaches and facial pain, identify new disease targets, understand the mechanisms of action of novel treatments, and discover disease biomarkers that could lead to the development of new therapeutics.

The research group consists of PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and fellows and is based at the vibrant Wolfson CARD Institute of King’s College London which has become the leading institute for research in pain and headaches in UK. The lab’s members have a particular interest in headache conditions like migraine, cluster headache and other TACs, post-traumatic headache, medication overuse headache and neuropathic and inflammatory facial pain. The lab has also a strong interest in the pharmacology of ion channels, of novel recombinant botulinum toxins and in neuromodulation therapies like transcranial magnetic stimulation. It utilises both in vitro techniques and in vivo models, as well as biomarker profiling technologies. The lab has a wide network of collaborators, both in UK, Europe and US.

Dr Andreou and the lab work in conjunction with the Headache Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust where together with the expert headache group of clinicians, nurses and fellows, they have developed a clinical trials program that includes, audits of real-world data, commercial studies, as well as back translational studies and first-in-human trials.

The lab is grateful for the support it has received from multiple resources including the Migraine Trust, MRC, Migraine Research Foundation, Medical Research Foundation and Brain Research UK.

The Headache Research lab is committed to continuing a lab culture with a strong foundation in diversity, equity, and inclusion and welcomes new trainees at all times.