Prof. Manjit Matharu
University Professor of Neurology and Consultant Neurologist, University College London, United Kingdom

Education

1988 – 1994 Manchester Medical School, Manchester

2000 – 2003 Institute of Neurology, University College London, London

Qualifications

1991 BSc (Pharmacology and Physiology) – First Class Joint Honours Degree

1994 MB, ChB (Honours Degree)

1998 MRCP (UK)

2006 PhD Title: Structural and functional imaging in primary headache syndromes

2012 FRCP (UK)

Professional History

2022- Professor of Neurology and Consultant Neurologist, University College London (UCL) Queen Square Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

2022- Visiting Professor of Neurology, Department of Neuromedicine and Movement sciences, Norwegian University of Science and technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

2017-2022 Associate Professor and Consultant Neurologist, University College London (UCL) Queen Square Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

2007-2017 Senior Lecturer and Consultant Neurologist, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

Other Appointments and Affiliations

1999- Member of the International Headache Society (IHS)

2006- Sub-editor of Headache Currents

2007- Member of the British Association for the Study of Headaches (BASH)

2009-2013 Member of NICE Guideline Development Group (GDG) for Headache Disorders

2010- Member of the editorial board of Frontiers in Headache Medicine

2010-2014 Member of the editorial board of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

2011-2015 Board Member of the International Headache Society (IHS) Education Committee

2012- Member of Association of British Neurologists (ABN) Headache and Pain Section Committee

2013- Member of the editorial board of BMC Neurology

2014- Board Member of the Anglo-Dutch Migraine Association (ADMA)

2014- Honorary Research Director of the National Migraine Centre (NMC)

2014-2015 Co-opted Member of the NHS England Chronic Pain Specialised Commissioning Group for Occipital Nerve Stimulation (ONS) Policy Development

2015- Board Member of the Headache Section of the European Academy of Neurology

2015-2017 Member of NICE Guideline Development Group (GDG) for Headache Disorders (Evidence Update for Clinical Guideline 150)

2017-2018 Co-opted Member of the NHS England Chronic Pain Specialised Commissioning Group for Sphenopalatine Ganglion Stimulation (SPG) Policy Development

2020-2022 Core Team Member of the International Headache Society (IHS) Regional Outreach Programme

2017- Chairperson of the Medical Advisory Board for CSF Leak Association

2017- Board Member of the Medical Advisory Committee for NDPH Support

2017- Honorary Consultant, Chiang Mai University Hospital

2019- Member of Medical Advisory Board of Autonomic Charitable Trust (ACT)

Prizes and Awards

2019 Chronic Headache Education and Self-management Study (CHESS) Study awarded Study of the Year award 2019 by Thames Valley and South Midlands CRN

2018 Doctify Award for providing for “Excellent patient experience”.

2004 King’s Fund NHS Champions Merit Award 2004 for providing an exceptional clinical service

2004 Harold G Wolff Award 2004 for the best original paper on headache, head or face pain, or the nature of pain

2002 OUCH (Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headaches) Person of the Year for providing a distinguished clinical service to headache patients

Selected Publications

213 Peer reviewed Journal Articles

• Hirschbichler ST, Lagrata S, Shedd N, Akram H, Schwingenschuh P, Waiß C, et al. Stimulation of the human ventral tegmental area increases strategic betting. Brain. 2025.
• Danelakis A, Kumelj T, Winsvold BS, Helene Bjørk M, Nachev P, Matharu M, et al. Diagnosing migraine from genome-wide genotype data: a machine learning analysis. Brain. 2025.
• Sisodiya SM, Gulcebi MI, Fortunato F, Mills JD, Haynes E, Bramon E, Chadwick P, Ciccarelli O, David AS, De Meyer K, Fox NC, Davan Wetton J, Koltzenburg M, Kullmann DM, Kurian MA, Manji H, Maslin MA, Matharu M, Montgomery H, Romanello M, Werring DJ, Zhang L, Friston KJ, Hanna MG. Climate change and disorders of the nervous system. Lancet Neurol. 2024;23(6):636-48.
• Cheema S, Ferreira F, Parras O, Lagrata S, Kamourieh S, Pakzad A, Zrinzo L, Matharu M, Akram H. Association of Clinical and Neuroanatomic Factors With Response to Ventral Tegmental Area DBS in Chronic Cluster Headache. Neurology. 2023;101(23):e2423-e33.
• Winsvold BS, Harder AVE, Ran C, Chalmer MA, Dalmasso MC, Ferkingstad E, Tripathi KP, Bacchelli E, Børte S, Fourier C, Petersen AS, Vijfhuizen LS, Magnusson SH, O’Connor E, Bjornsdottir G, Häppölä P, Wang YF, Callesen I, Kelderman T, Gallardo VJ, de Boer I, Olofsgård FJ, Heinze K, Lund N, Thomas LF, Hsu CL, Pirinen M, Hautakangas H, Ribasés M, Guerzoni S, Sivakumar P, Yip J, Heinze A, Küçükali F, Ostrowski SR, Pedersen OB, Kristoffersen ES, Martinsen AE, Artigas MS, Lagrata S, Cainazzo MM, Adebimpe J, Quinn O, Göbel C, Cirkel A, Volk AE, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Skogholt AH, Gabrielsen ME, Wilbrink LA, Danno D, Mehta D, Guðbjartsson DF, Rosendaal FR, Willems van Dijk K, Fronczek R, Wagner M, Scherer M, Göbel H, Sleegers K, Sveinsson OA, Pani L, Zoli M, Ramos-Quiroga JA, Dardiotis E, Steinberg A, Riedel-Heller S, Sjöstrand C, Thorgeirsson TE, Stefansson H, Southgate L, Trembath RC, Vandrovcova J, Noordam R, Paemeleire K, Stefansson K, Fann CS, Waldenlind E, Tronvik E, Jensen RH, Chen SP, Houlden H, Terwindt GM, Kubisch C,
• Maestrini E, Vikelis M, Pozo-Rosich P, Belin AC, Matharu M, van den Maagdenberg A, Hansen TF, Ramirez A, Zwart JA. Cluster Headache Genomewide Association Study and Meta-Analysis Identifies Eight Loci and Implicates Smoking as Causal Risk Factor. Ann Neurol. 2023;94(4):713-26.
• Underwood M, Achana F, Carnes D, Eldridge S, Ellard DR, Griffiths F, Haywood K, Hee SW, Higgins H, Mistry D, Mistry H, Newton S, Nichols V, Norman C, Padfield E, Patel S, Petrou S, Pincus T, Potter R, Sandhu H, Stewart K, Taylor SJC, Matharu MS. Supportive Self-Management Program for People With Chronic Headaches and Migraine: A Randomized Controlled Trial and Economic Evaluation. Neurology. 2023;100(13):e1339-e52.
• Lambru G, Lagrata S, Levy A, Cheema S, Davagnanam I, Rantell K, et al. Trigeminal microvascular decompression for short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks. Brain. 2022;145(8):2882-93.
• O’Connor E, Fourier C, Ran C, Sivakumar P, Liesecke F, Southgate L, et al. Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Risk Loci for Cluster Headache. Ann Neurol. 2021;90(2):193-202.
• Tso AR, Brudfors M, Danno D, Grangeon L, Cheema S, Matharu M, et al. Machine phenotyping of cluster headache and its response to verapamil. Brain. 2021;144(2):655-64.
• D’Antona L, Jaime Merchan MA, Vassiliou A, Watkins LD, Davagnanam I, Toma AK, et al. Clinical Presentation, Investigation Findings, and Treatment Outcomes of Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Neurol. 2021;78(3):329-37.
• D’Antona L, Asif H, Craven CL, McHugh JA, Vassiliou A, Thorne L, et al. Brain MRI and Ophthalmic Biomarkers of Intracranial Pressure. Neurology. 2021.
• Lambru G, Rantell K, O’Connor E, Levy A, Davagnanam I, Zrinzo L, et al. Trigeminal neurovascular contact in SUNCT and SUNA: a cross-sectional magnetic resonance study. Brain. 2020;143(12):3619-28.
• Lambru G, Rantell K, Levy A, Matharu MS. A prospective comparative study and analysis of predictors of SUNA and SUNCT. Neurology. 2019;93(12):e1127-e37.
• D’Antona L, McHugh JA, Ricciardi F, Thorne LW, Matharu MS, Watkins LD, et al. Association of Intracranial Pressure and Spontaneous Retinal Venous Pulsation. JAMA Neurol. 2019.
• Skljarevski V, Matharu M, Millen BA, Ossipov MH, Kim BK, Yang JY. Efficacy and safety of galcanezumab for the prevention of episodic migraine: Results of the EVOLVE-2 Phase 3 randomized controlled clinical trial. Cephalalgia. 2018;38(8):1442-54.
• Matharu M, Halker R, Pozo-Rosich P, DeGryse R, Manack Adams A, Aurora SK. The impact of onabotulinumtoxinA on severe headache days: PREEMPT 56-week pooled analysis. J Headache Pain. 2017;18(1):78.
• Matharu M, Pascual J, Nilsson Remahl I, Straube A, Lum A, Davar G, et al. Utilization and safety of onabotulinumtoxinA for the prophylactic treatment of chronic migraine from an observational study in Europe. Cephalalgia. 2017;37(14):1384-97.
• Akram H, Miller S, Lagrata S, Hariz M, Ashburner J, Behrens T, et al. Optimal deep brain stimulation site and target connectivity for chronic cluster headache. Neurology. 2017;89(20):2083-91.
• Miller S, Watkins L, Matharu MS. Treatment of intractable hemicrania continua by occipital nerve stimulation. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2017;88(9):805-6.
• Miller S, Akram H, Lagrata S, Hariz M, Zrinzo L, Matharu M. Ventral tegmental area deep brain stimulation in refractory short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks. Brain. 2016;139(Pt 10):2631-40.
• Akram H, Miller S, Lagrata S, Hyam J, Jahanshahi M, Hariz M, et al. Ventral tegmental area deep brain stimulation for refractory chronic cluster headache. Neurology. 2016;86(18):1676-82.
• Cittadini E, Matharu MS, Goadsby PJ. Paroxysmal hemicrania: a prospective clinical study of 31 cases. Brain 2008;131(Pt 4):1142-1155.
• Cohen AS, Matharu MS, Goadsby PJ. Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) or cranial autonomic features (SUNA)-a prospective clinical study of SUNCT and SUNA. Brain 2006; 129: 2746-60.
• Schwedt TJ, Matharu MS, Dodick DW. Thunderclap headache. Lancet Neurol 2006; 5: 621-31.
• Matharu MS, Cohen AS, Frackowiak RS, Goadsby PJ. Posterior hypothalamic activation in paroxysmal hemicrania. Ann Neurol 2006; 59: 535-545.
• Levy MJ, Matharu MS, Meeran K, Powell M, Goadsby PJ. The clinical characteristics of headache in patients with pituitary tumours. Brain 2005; 128: 1921-30.
• Afridi SK, Matharu MS, Lee L, Kaube H, Friston KJ, Frackowiak RS, et al. A PET study exploring the laterality of brainstem activation in migraine using glyceryl trinitrate. Brain 2005;128:932-939.
• Matharu MS, Levy MJ, Meeran K, Goadsby PJ. Subcutaneous octreotide in cluster headache: Randomized placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study. Ann Neurol 2004; 56:488-494.
• Matharu MS, Bartsch T, Ward N, Frackowiak RS, Weiner R, Goadsby PJ. Central neuromodulation in chronic migraine patients with suboccipital stimulators: a PET study. Brain 2004; 127:220-230.

13 Book Chapters

• Mehta D, Cheema S, Matharu M. Migraine: Headache with nausea and light sensitivity. In: Francomano C, Hakim A, Henderson L, Henderson FC, editors. Symptomatic: The Symptom-Based Handbook for Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders. Cambridge, USA: Elsevier; 2023. p. 231-6.
• D’Antona, L., Matharu, M. (2020). Headache in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome. In Postural Tachycardia Syndrome A Concise and Practical Guide to Management and Associated Conditions. Springer Nature
• D’Antona, L., Cecchini, A., Leone, M., Matharu, M. (2019). Neuromodulation in Cluster Headache. In Lambru, G., Lanteri-Minet, M. (Eds.), Neuromodulation in Headache and Facial Pain Management. Springer, Cham.
• Miller, S., Matharu, M. (2017). Other primary headaches. In Ravishankar, K., Evans, R., Wang, S.-.J. (Eds.), Modern Day Management of Headache Questions and Answers. New Delhi: JP Medical Ltd.
• Miller, S., Matharu, M.S. (2017). The use of electroceuticals and neuromodulation in the treatment of migraine and other headaches. In Electroceuticals: Advances in Electrostimulation Therapies. (pp. 1-33). .
• Matharu, M., Shanahan, P., Young, T. (2016). Headache. In Neurology: A Queen Square Textbook: Second Edition. (pp. 513-529). .
• Ashina, M., Geppetti, P., Matharu, M. (2015). In Pathophysiology of Cluster Headache: Current Status and Future Directions… Switzerland: Springer.
• Miller, S., Matharu, M.S. (2015). Cluster headache: Preventative treatment. In Pharmacological Management of Headaches. (pp. 109-120).
• Obermann, M., Matharu, M.S. (2015). Pathophysiology of Cluster Headache: Current Status and Future Directions.. In Ashina, M., Geppetti, P. (Eds.), Pathophysiology of Headaches From Molecule to Man. Switzerland: Springer.
• Lambru, G., Matharu, M. (2013). Cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias. In Abu-Arafeh, I. (Ed.), Childhood Headache, 2nd Edition. London: Mac Keith.
• Matharu, M.S., Goadsby, P.J. (2008). Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias: diagnosis and management. In Silberstein, S.D., Lipton, R.B., Dodick, D.W. (Eds.), Wolff’s headache and other head pain. (pp. 379-430). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Matharu, M.S., Goadsby, P.J. (2006). Sudden unilateral neuralgiform pain with conjunctival injection and tearing. In Olesen, J., Goadsby, P.J., Ramadan, N.M., Tfelt-Hansen, P., Welch, K.M.A. (Eds.), The headaches. (pp. 823-830). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
• Matharu, M.S., Goadsby, P.J. (2005). Short-lasting, unilateral, neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) syndrome. In Goadsby, P.J., Silberstein, S.D., Dodick, D.W. (Eds.), Chronic daily headache for clinicians. (pp. 89-103). Hamilton, London: BC Decker Inc

Responsibilities

• Clinical and Academic Lead of the Headache and Facial Group at University College London (UCL) Queen Square Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Clinical and Academic Lead for the National Centre for Facial Pain (NCFP) at The National Hospital for neurology and Neurosurgery.
• Member of NICE Guideline Development Group (GDG) for Headache Disorders
• Core Team Member of the International Headache Society (IHS) Regional Outreach Programme
• President of the Medical Advisory Board of the CSF Leak Association and Chairperson of the UK CSF Leak Special Interest group
• Board Member and Lead for the Scientific Committee of the Anglo Dutch Migraine Association (ADMA)
• Member of the Medical Advisory Board for Trigeminal Neuralgia Association.