Laura Ward

Dr. Laura Ward is a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow's School of Health & Wellbeing. Her work focuses on health disparities among individuals with intellectual disabilities, including oral health, medication safety, and mortality analysis through record linkage studies. She employs functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in neurology research to examine visual cortex function in conditions like diabetes and glaucoma. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges clinical epidemiology with neuroimaging techniques.

Research Interests:

• Health outcomes in intellectual disability populations
• Pharmacological safety and polypharmacy risks
• Neuroimaging of visual processing disorders
• Epidemiological studies of chronic disease disparities

Publications Trends: Over 27 peer-reviewed articles and conference presentations since 2013. Recent focus on pandemic impacts (2025), cancer epidemiology (2024), anticholinergic burden analysis (2022-2021), and dental health disparities (2020). Neuroimaging work (2015-2018) explores aging and diabetes effects on visual systems.

Grants & Advising: Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on large-scale cohort studies. No specific grants mentioned, but active in record linkage methodology development.

Labs/Teams: Engaged with Glasgow's neuroimaging research groups and intellectual disability healthcare initiatives.