My research focuses on the effect of stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases on cognition and emotion, from a behavioural and biological point of view. In particular, my PhD project will involve the study of apathy in stroke patients: we will follow patients from the time of their stroke to a year after their stroke. By repeatedly measuring apathy and mood symptoms, we will try and understand the complex mechanisms of apathy and its consequences on quality of life. My work will focus on increasing our knowledge on how common apathy is, how it changes across time and what are the best tools to assess it. Moreover, I?ll be looking into neuroimaging correlates of apathy by analysing MRI brain scans and specific Diffusion Tensor Imaging markers. By studying the characteristics and evolution of apathy after stroke we ultimately hope to bring patients better targeted treatments.
