Rob Brownstone was appointed as the BrainResearch UK Chair, and Professor & Head of Neurosurgery at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in 2015. Prior to that, he practiced in Canada for 20 years as a neurosurgeon-scientist, first in Manitoba and then at Dalhousie University, where he held the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Spinal Cord Circuits.

Brownstone’s focus throughout his career –in both his clinical and scientific roles – has aimed at improving quality of life in people with neurological diseases or injuries. As a functional neurosurgeon, Brownstone has focussed on treating people with movement disorders, intractable pain syndromes, and epilepsy. In his lab, he studies function and dysfunction of neural circuits for movement, with a goal of developing new strategies to improve movement in people with neurological diseases or injuries. Brownstone is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK).