Prof Emily Henderson is an associate professor in ageing and movement disorders and honorary consultant geriatrician, clinical trials in older adults and the interaction between cognition and gait in movement disorders and neurodegenerative disease. She runs a translational programme of research that spans basic science through to clinical trials and healthcare service innovation. This >£12million portfolio seeks to improve quality of life for older people and those with neurodegenerative diseases. She works clinically as a consultant geriatrician in Parkinson's and related disorders at the Royal United Hospitals Bath where she looks after older patients on Parkinson's specific wards and as outpatients.

In 2011, Emily set up and ran the ReSPonD (Rivastigmine to Stabilise Gait in Parkinson’s Disease) trial. This double blind, placebo controlled, randomised control trial sought to determine whether cholinesterase inhibitor therapy can stabilise gait and balance in people with Parkinson’s disease. She recruited 130 participants in <6 months to time and target. She published the positive findings as first author in the published in the Lancet Neurology in 2016. She is the chief investigator of the £2.1 million NIHR multicentre drug trial, CHIEF PD that will provide definitive evidence as to the clinical and cost effectiveness of rivastigmine for falls in Parkinson's. In 2019 she was awarded, as co-principal investigator, a £10 million grant from the Gatsby foundation to innovate Parkinson’s care. PRIME-PD is a collaboration with Radboud University in the Netherlands, the University of Bristol and Royal United Hospitals Bath, that shares expertise and facilities to deliver this world-leading research. This innovative programme of research seeks to design, test and deliver new care innovations in Parkinson's disease and related movement and cognitive disorders. Emily led the development and implementation of the 18 week Complex Medicine in Older People (CMOP) curriculum in geriatric medicine in the new MB21 Medical School undergraduate curriculum. The Dunhill Medical Trust awarded a grant to evaluate the effectiveness of new innovative educational methods on attitudes towards older people and knowledge of geriatrics.

Academically, she collaborates with colleagues in neuroscience, engineering, geriatrics and neurology within Bristol, nationally and internationally. From inception until 2018, she was the lead for the South West Parkinson’s Excellence Network. She has organised conferences and delivered lectures at national and international meetings as well as the Royal College of Physicians. She is lead for Ageing in the West of England Clinical Research Network (CRN). Nationally, she is immediate past chair of the British Geriatric Society - Movement Disorder Section (BGS-MDS), sits on the National Parkinson’s Disease Portfolio Development Group (PD-PDG), is a Faculty member of the Parkinson's Academy and current Vice President of Academic Affairs for the British Geriatric Society.