As a specialised clinic we have acquired a substantial body of knowledge over the years; knowledge that is constantly evolving. Some of this comes from being a research centre, but most of it comes from the patients we see. Not only do the results of our research feed directly into our clinical care; the information from our patients also feeds directly into our research.

We work with medical staff who are fully qualified doctors with a specialist interest in migraine and headache, and are registered with the UK’s General Medical Council. Therefore your headaches will never be dismissed as trivial. The doctors provide expertise on various specialist areas including: neurology, women’s health and ophthalmology. You will be assigned to one specialist who you will usually see at each of your visits. If, for any reason, you would prefer to see a different doctor at a future visit, please let us know.

The National Migraine Centre was inspected by the Care Quality Commission on 31st May 2018.  On 2nd August 2018 the report was published to say we had passed the inspection and were safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.  To read the full inspection report please click here.

The Team:

Chief Executive

Dan Tickle, National Migraine Centre’s chief executive, is an award-winning charity leader with experience across the voluntary sector devising strategy, diversifying income and driving change. He brings over 20 years’ leadership experience gained in a career that encompasses health, disability, international development, animal welfare and children’s charities.

As chief executive of charity No Smoking Day, Dan spearheaded the UK’s leading public health campaign, working alongside the NHS and government to deliver innovative marketing and promote services designed to help smokers quit for good.

Beginning his career leading marketing, digital and communications functions, Dan’s experience includes Blue Cross, SPANA, Mencap, the National Deaf Children’s Society and Girlguiding UK.

Operations Director – Charlotte Burr

Clinical and Communications Director – Swati Raina

Headache Specialists:

Dr Simone Gregoire MRCP(London) PhD

Consultant Neurologist and Headache Specialist

Dr Nazeli Manukyan MD MRCP MRCGP DFSRH

Dr Nazeli Manukyan is a GP in Surrey, a GP Appraiser for South London and a Headache Specialist at The National Migraine Centre. She obtained her primary medical degree in Armenia in 1992, where she also completed her postgraduate residency in Neurology.

She moved to the UK in 2000 and trained in medical and general practice specialities, leading to the Memberships of Royal College of Physicians (2005) and Royal College of General Practice (2008).

She has been specialising in headache management since 2011 working at The National Migraine Centre and treating patients with a wide range of headache presentations including chronic migraine, cluster headache, and medication overuse headache. Her training in contraception and family planning has been beneficial in dealing with hormonal and menopausal migraine triggers.

She manages her own migraine by enjoying her clinical workload, avoiding NHS bureaucratic burden whenever possible, and devoting her free time to yoga and piano practice.

Dr Katy Munro BM MRCGP DRCOG

Dr Katy Munro was a partner in a Hertfordshire NHS General Practice for 24 years. She was the lead for Mental Health issues in the practice and had a special interest in chronic pain conditions and in bereavement.

She has had an interest in managing headaches for many years and originally attended the National Migraine Centre as a patient herself.

She now works as a GP Headache Specialist at the National Migraine Centre and as an independent GP. She is keen to take a holistic approach and has a wide knowledge of therapies other than medication that can help headache. She has written and contributed to articles for various newspapers and magazines and for the Royal College of Nursing on headache-related topics and is available to give webinars or talks in the workplace or in GP surgeries. She is a speaker at the annual Headache Masterclass. http://www.headachemasterclass.com/programme.php

She has appeared on ITV’s This Morning doing a phone-in for patients with headache queries, in particular, related to new treatments. She has also written a book as part of the Penguin Life Series called ‘Managing Your Migraine’ (this can be purchased via Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3p9JeQv).

Education Lead:

Professor Paul Booton BSc(Hons) MB BS FRCP FRCGP

Professor Paul Booton trained in London and as a young graduate worked in Hong Kong with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees during the Vietnamese “boat people” exodus. He returned to train in Internal Medicine and subsequently in General Practice.

His career spanned clinical and academic practice initially as a lecturer at Guys and St Thomas’s Medical school, then as Undergraduate Dean at Kings, Head of Undergraduate Education in Primary care at Imperial and finally as Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at St George’s, University of London.

Through his career, he has continued in clinical practice with interests in internal medicine and neurological aspects of primary care. He always found headache an interesting and worthwhile challenge in Primary Care and was delighted to be appointed as a clinician to the National Migraine Centre with whom he has remained, seeing patients and training doctors for the last 8 years.

He retired from clinical practice in 2018 but continues to work on GP education with the National Migraine Centre.

Board Members:

Mr Anthony Stratton (Chair)

Ms Ruth Robertson

Dr Bal Athwal

Mr Simon Kingsnorth

Ms Penny Wilson

Annual Accounts:

National Migraine Centre’s most recent annual accounts can be found here.