Dr Ashvini KeshavanAcademic

Biography

Dr Ashvini Keshavan is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. She obtained her medical degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, completed neurology specialist training in Central and East London, and was awarded her PhD at UCL in 2019 on cerebrospinal fluid and blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. She was appointed to her current dual role at UCL and UCLH in April 2023. Her research applies blood and CSF biomarker testing to the early detection, differential diagnosis, and prognosis of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease. She is co-chief investigator of the ADAPT trial, which is evaluating whether the blood protein p-tau217 can improve Alzheimer's diagnosis earlier and more accurately than current methods across NHS memory clinics. She has argued publicly for the NHS integration of blood-based dementia diagnostics as a route to earlier, fairer, and more accessible diagnosis.

References

1. 1.Ashvini Keshavan | About | University College London — Current role, title, institutional address, postcode, ORCID, PhD award date, appointment date, ADAPT co-chief investigator status
2. 2.Dr Ashvini Keshavan and her trial identifying accurate and quick blood tests to diagnose dementia | UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences — Role title, institutional affiliation, background narrative, Blood Biomarker Challenge co-lead
3. 3.UK trial launches to transform Alzheimer's diagnosis with simple blood test | UCL News — ADAPT trial launch, co-lead status with Prof Schott, NHS memory clinic recruitment, Blood Biomarker Challenge context
4. 4.Blood test may spot Alzheimer's 10 to 15 years before symptoms show | UCL News — Press commentary on co-authored research into early Alzheimer's blood detection

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

• Dementia blood biomarkers
• Alzheimer's disease diagnosis
• CSF biomarker research
• Early detection of neurodegeneration
• NHS diagnostics policy
• Clinical trials in neurology

Notable achievements

• Co-leads the ADAPT trial (launched September 2025), a UK-wide study across ~20 NHS centres evaluating plasma p-tau217 as an early Alzheimer's diagnostic tool, part of the multi-million-pound Blood Biomarker Challenge. Source ↗
• Awarded a Wolfson Clinical Research Fellowship at UCL, her route into dementia fluid biomarker research. Source ↗
• Co-authored research (published June 2024) showing a blood test may detect Alzheimer's 10–15 years before symptoms appear. Source ↗
• Published ADAPT Stage 1 study in Alzheimer's & Dementia (2026), validating plasma p-tau217 clinical cut-points against CSF and amyloid PET in two UK biomarker-defined cohorts. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “This is not about confirming accuracy, which we have already done. This is about showing that it actually makes a difference to patients' onward management.”

  senior clinical research fellow at University College London's Dementia Research Centre · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Doctors trial £100 blood test that could transform how NHS detects Alzheimer’s ↗

Source references

1. Doctors trial £100 blood test that could transform how NHS detects Alzheimer’stheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/52928-ashvini-keshavan
• ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1043-5721published here ↗
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ashvini-keshavan-6a2088165/

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.