Craig Smith

Craig Smith is Professor of Stroke Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Manchester, and is based clinically at the Greater Manchester Comprehensive Stroke Centre (CSC), Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. He is also the Greater Manchester NIHR Local Comprehensive Stroke Network Stroke Specialty Lead.

Craig trained in the North West of England, which included a Stroke Association Clinical Training Fellowship in Stroke Medicine. He received his MD from the University of Manchester following a period of research in the field of inflammation and cerebrovascular disease.

His clinical work is at the Greater Manchester CSC, where he has particular expertise in the management of hyperacute and acute stroke, including thrombolysis, and has led the development of the thrombectomy service. He also has expertise in the investigation and management of cardioembolic stroke, complex atherosclerotic disease and young strokes.

His research interests are focused on the role of infection, inflammation and immune-responses in cerebrovascular disease. His ongoing translational research portfolio spans the spectrum of stroke-assoiated pneumonia (SAP), incorporating the diagnosis, aetiology, pathophysiology, prevention and treatment. Current research includes clinical and biomarker-based approaches to risk-stratification of pneumonia; novel diagnostic approaches to SAP; (including thoracic imaging and inflammation-immune biomarkers); characterisation, regulation and significance of innate cellular immune-responses and inflammation in stroke; prevention of SAP based on stroke unit care processes and interventions targeting oral hygiene, dysphagia/aspiration and immune-suppression.