Mary Reilly (academic)

Reilly studied medicine at University College Dublin, graduating in 1986.[1][2] She worked for a few years as a neurologist at St. Vincent's University Hospital, before joining Anita Harding at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in 1991.[1][3][4][5] Reilly has spoken of how much she admired her supervisor, and attributes her clinical interests to Harding.[6] Reilly earned her medical doctorate in 1996, focussing on familial amyloid polyneuropathy.[1][7][8] She completed her neurological training at Royal Free Hospital and Guy's Hospital, [1] training with P. K. Thomas and Richard Hughes.[9]

At the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery Reilly specialises in inherited neuropathies.[10][11] She was made consultant neurologist in 1998[3] and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2002.[4] She began to study neuromuscular disease, [12] in particular Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease.[13][14] In 2004, she found that Vitamin C could be used to improve symptoms in mouse models of CMT1A (Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 1A).[15] She established a randomized controlled trial with colleagues in Italy to evaluate the efficacy of Vitamin C on CMT1A.[15] The UK part of the trial consisted of 50 participants, and found that whilst Vitamin C is safe, it does not slow the progression of the disease.[15] Although the trial was not a success, it developed new neuropathy outcome measures.[15] Her research includes the identification of genes such as BICD2 and methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MARS);[10][16][17] she has already conducted functional analysis of IGHMBP2.[18]

Reilly works with Muscular Dystrophy UK on muscle-wasting conditions.[19] She has also worked on new biomarkers for disease progression.[20] CMT parents suffer from damaged motor nerves, which results in muscles weakening, and ultimately allows fat to accumulate in muscles; MRI outcome measures could monitor intramuscular fat accumulation, and detect muscle water changes that preceded fat accumulation.[20][21] Reilly identified that calf muscle fat friction maps are an outcome measure in patients with CMT1A, with calf muscle fat increased significantly in patients with CMT1A[22] She received a $1,000,000 grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to evaluate MRI protocols for monitoring changes in muscles from CMT.[23][21]

In 2010 Reilly was appointed Professor of Clinical Neurology at University College London.[24] She leads the Division of Clinical Neurology and Medical Research Council Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases.[25][26] With the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases and Muscular Dystrophy UK, Reilly runs an annual translational neuromuscular diseases meeting, which includes a patient day to discuss inherited neuropathies.[26] Along with CMT, Reilly has worked on hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathies and carpal tunnel syndrome in inherited neuropathies.[27]

Reilly contributed to the 2013 Handbook of Clinical Neurology, [28] and wrote a chapter for the 2016 Springer Publishing collection Neuromuscular Disease: Case Studies from Queen Square.[29][30] Reilly has served as President of the British Peripheral Nerve Society and the International Peripheral Nerve Society.[31] In 2015 she was appointed President-elect of the Association of British Neurologists.[3] She became the first woman to take the role in 2017.[3]