Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, MAS, is a professor of neurology and associate dean at UCSF, and chief of staff at the San Francisco Veterans Health Care System. He served as Pihl Professor of neuroscience and chair of the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina, before moving to UCSF in 2018. Dr. Ovbiagele leads several NIH-funded studies seeking to translate evidence-based stroke interventions into practice in community settings. These studies have included the largest epidemiological investigation of stroke in sub-Saharan Africa, which characterized key stroke phenomics and unique genetic variants associated with stroke; the first implementation stroke trial in the region, which suggested that text-messaging and a modest financial incentive may influence post-stroke outcomes; and a clinical trial of a nurse-guided smart-phone app intervention, which indicated efficacy for controlling blood pressure after stroke. He is currently investigating a polypill formulation to prevent stroke; conducting genome-wide association analyses of stroke; and a scalable stroke information and surveillance system. Dr. Ovbiagele was founding editor-in-chief of the World Federation of Neurology open-access journal, Journal of Neurological Sciences (2014-2019), which published several compelling special issues targeting under-represented countries and conditions; and is an associate editor for the journal, Stroke. He was chair of the International Stroke Conference (2016-2018) and is founding chair of the inaugural African Stroke Organization Conference taking place in 2021. Dr. Ovbiagele’s work has been recognized with the American Academy of Neurology Michael Pessin Research Leadership Award and the American Stroke Association William Feinberg Excellence in Stroke Research Award.

Learn more about Dr. Ovbiagele here.