Vladimir Hachinski

Prof. Vladimir Hachinski graduated with an MD from the University of Toronto and trained in neurology and research in Montreal, Toronto, London, U.K. and Copenhagen. He pioneered with Dr. John Norris the world’s first successful acute stroke unit and discovered the key role of the insula of the brain in sudden death. With Shawn Whitehead and David Cechetto he discovered an ischemia, amyloid, inflammation link between Alzheimer disease and stroke paving the way for novel therapeutic approaches. He introduced the concepts of brain attack, multi infarct dementia, leukoaraiosis, brain at risk and vascular cognitive impairment. Prof. Hachinski leads the effort to prevent stroke and dementia together on behalf of the World Stroke Organization, endorsed by Alzheimer’s Disease International and 20 other international, regional and national organizations. He has authored, co-authored or co-edited 18 books including Treatable and Potentially Preventable Dementias (www.cambridge.org/9781107157460) and over 800 scientific and scholarly publications whose impact is reflected in over 39,000 citations and a Hirsh index of 86 and Google Scholar 103. He was Editor-in-Chief of the journal STROKE, the leading publication of this field. In 2011 he received the International BIAL Merit Award in Medical Sciences for a monograph on 'The Long Fuse: Silent Strokes and Insidious Alzheimer Disease'. Prof. Hachinski is past President of the World Federation of Neurology and Founding Chair, World Brain Alliance. In 2014, he was the Allan & Maria Myers International Visiting Fellow at the Florey. Neurosciences Institute, Melbourne, Australia, he received the Karolinska Stroke Research Award, he became the Brain Visiting Scholar at Oxford, Cambridge and London Universities and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2016 Prof. Hachinski was awarded the Prince Mahidol Award Laureate in the Field of Public Health and the McLaughlin Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, recognizing 'research of sustained excellence in medical science'. In 2018 he was inducted in the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and awarded the Killam Prize in health sciences.