Vladimir Hachinski

Vladimir Hachinski CM MD DSc FRCPC received his MD from the University of Toronto. After completing his residency training at the same university, he undertook a Cerebrovascular Laboratory Fellowship at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases at Queen Square in London, England and a research fellowship at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr. Hachinski is Professor of Neurology and Distinguished University Professor at Western University. He founded, with John W. Norris the first successful acute stroke unit which has become the standard of care and with David Cechetto discovered the key role of the insula of the brain in mediating sudden death. He introduced the concepts and terms multiinfarct dementia, leukoaraiosis and vascular cognitive impairment and devised the Hachinski ischemic score, (over 3880 citations) that remains the standard for identifying a vascular (treatable) component of cognitive impairment.

Dr. Hachinski was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Stroke, the leading publication in the field for an unprecedented 10 year term from 2000-2010. He introduced 9 international editions and a unique author mentorship program. He has contributed over 850 scientific papers, book chapters, editorials and other scholarly publications, with over 61,000 citations and an H-Index of 111. He is the author, co-author or editor or co-editor of 17 books including Stroke: A Comprehensive Guide to Brain Attack, co-authored with his daughter Larissa Hachinski, that was written to increase public awareness of brain attack, a term coined by Dr. Hachinski to help drive home the urgency of strokes. He has received 4 honorary doctorates, the Mihara International Award, World Stroke Organization Leadership in Stroke Medicine Award, the Premier's Discovery Award in the Life Sciences and Medicine for "ground breaking research on relationship between stroke and Alzheimer disease".

Dr. Hachinski was Vice President of the World Stroke Organization. He was the founding Chair of the International Society for Vascular Behavioural and Cognitive Disorders and President of the World Federation of Neurology, 2010-2013. He was awarded the 2011 International BIAL Merit Award in Medical Sciences for a monograph on "The Long Fuse: Silent Strokes and Insidious Alzheimer Disease" and in 2012 a Doctor honoris causa from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

In 2008 he received the Order of Canada and in 2013 the Order of Ontario and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He was the 2013 Paddison Lecturer and was awarded the Chancellor's Award Lecture in Neuroscience and Neurology for his "contributions to neurological sciences and for outstanding academic leadership" at the University of Louisiana. Dr. Hachinski was the Allan & Maria Myers International Visiting Fellow for 2014 at the Florey Institute in Melbourne, Australia and was the 2014 Brain Scholar, Cambridge, Oxford and London UK Universities. In 2016 he received the McLaughlin Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, recognizing “research of sustained excellence in medical science”. In 2017 Dr. Hachinski received the Prince Mahidol Award Laureate in the Field of Public Health, and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In 2018 he was the recipient of the Killam Prize in Health Sciences.

Recently, Dr. Hachinski edited Treatable and Potentially Preventable Dementias, the first comprehensive and authoritative book covering the basis for the joint prevention of stroke and the management, delay, or prevention of some dementias. The book highlights the overwhelming evidence that major dementias involve a vascular treatable component, ranging from 61% in frontotemporal dementia to 80% in Alzheimer disease - doubling the chances of silent brain pathology manifesting as dementia. The book has been “highly commended” by the British Medical Association.

VIEW DR. HACHINSKI'S LAUREATE PAGE HERE