IDENTIFYING AND TREATING AUTOIMMUNE NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS

With
Associate Professor Sudarshini (Darshi) Ramanathan,
Neurologist & Head of Translational Neuroimmunology Group
Faculty of Medicine and Health
University of Sydney, Australia

RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | April 2026

Associate Professor Sudarshini Ramanathan is a neurologist and clinician scientist whose work focuses on autoimmune neurological disorders. Her research has helped identify new neurological syndromes due to antibody-mediated demyelination and encephalitis, and improve diagnostic tools and treatment guidelines for patients with autoimmune diseases affecting the brain, spinal cord, muscles and nerves. 

Associate Professor Ramanathan’s research program aims to improve our understanding of underlying disease pathogenesis with a focus towards ‘precision medicine’ in neuroimmunology – both with diagnosis and therapeutics. Her research focuses on defining the clinical, radiological, and immunophenotypic profiles of specific pathogenic autoantibodies; understanding what triggers autoimmunity and disruption of immune tolerance; and the cellular and humoural mechanisms of action of autoantibodies and how this might be translated into refining novel therapeutic approaches.

Her work thus far has resulted in the enhanced recognition of novel treatable neurological conditions, important biological insights into the pathophysiology of these disorders, and the development of diagnostic criteria and therapeutic approaches to improve outcomes in vulnerable patients who otherwise risk chronic disability.

Associate Professor Ramanathan heads the Translational Neuroimmunology Group at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney; and also runs a neuroimmunology clinic at Concord Hospital. She supervises and mentors a research team of PhD and Masters candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and clinician researchers. Her research has been recognised by the Leonard Cox Award for Excellence in Neuroscience research and the NSW Premier’s Prize Award for Early Career Researchers (Biological  Sciences) in 2022.

Source: Supplied