Rate My Professor Dominic Rowe

Professor Dominic Rowe, AM, is Professor of Neurology in the Macquarie Medical School at Macquarie University. He was appointed to the Faculty of Medicine, Human and Health Sciences at Macquarie University in 2007 at the age of 42, becoming the youngest Professor of Neurology in Australia at the time. He played a key role in establishing the health precinct at Macquarie University and MQ Health, with the Neurology Clinic opening in June 2010. Professor Rowe has provided neurological care to thousands of patients with motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological conditions. The Neurology service at Macquarie currently cares for more than 200 patients with motor neuron disease and more than 800 patients with Parkinson’s disease.

In 2013, Professor Rowe established the Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre at Macquarie University, which now comprises 82 staff and operates on an annual budget of AUD13 million, making it the largest motor neuron disease research centre and clinic in Australia. He founded the Neurodegenerative Diseases Biobank at Macquarie University, which curates more than 80,000 biospecimens from more than 500 patients with genetic and sporadic motor neuron disease as well as other neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Rowe has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, contributed chapters to textbooks on motor neurone disease, and edited a textbook on the non-motor manifestations of Parkinson’s disease published by Oxford University Press. His work has accumulated more than 6,300 citations, with over 3,300 in the last five years. Notable publications include papers in Nature Genetics (2016), Nature Communications (2017), and Science Translational Medicine (2018). He holds patents related to Parkinson’s disease and a blood test for motor neuron disease and other neurodegenerative diseases awarded in 2018. Professor Rowe leads the Clinical Trials Unit at Macquarie University, initiating the first human clinical trials there in 2012, and serves as principal investigator on nine therapeutic trials in motor neuron disease and Parkinson’s disease from Phase 1 to Phase 3. He is principal investigator of the ATLAS study in pre-symptomatic motor neuron disease patients, with Macquarie University as the only Australian site, and manages care for patients with SOD1-related motor neuron disease on an expanded access program. In 2012, Professor Rowe was awarded Member of the Order of Australia for services to medicine and neurology. He holds a BSc (Med), MBBS (Hons), and PhD.