Sophie Binks

Dr. Sophie Binks is a Clinical Lecturer at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (NDCN), University of Oxford, and a clinician-scientist at the John Radcliffe Hospital. She transitioned from a career in medical communications to medicine, graduating first in her cohort with distinction from Brighton & Sussex Medical School in 2013. After completing a fellowship in autoimmune neurology (2016-2017), she earned her DPhil in neuroimmunology from the University of Oxford in 2022.

Her research program focuses on clinical and genetic aspects of autoimmune encephalitis (AE), particularly LGI1-Ab and CASPR2-Ab disorders. Key contributions include discovering HLA associations (2018), genetic risk loci (2025), and pioneering the first feline model of LGI1-Ab encephalitis (2025). She has also characterized fatigue and quality-of-life outcomes (2021, 2024) in AE patients.

Scientific awards include the Professor Alasdair Smith prize and receiving the Dean’s prize three times. As an international speaker and educator, she supervises postgraduate students and leads patient engagement initiatives. Her recent publications span topics including gut microbiome interactions, seizure phenotyping, and novel patient-reported outcome metrics.