Sanjula Dhillon Singh, MD, PhD, MSc Global Health Science and Epidemiology (Oxon)

Sanjula Dhillon Singh, MD, PhD, MSc (Oxon)

Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Physician-Scientist and Epidemiologist, Principal Investigator at Brain Care Labs, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Dr. Sanjula Dhillon Singh is a physician-scientist and epidemiologist whose work bridges clinical medicine, epidemiology, behavioral science, and global health innovation. Trained in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Dr. Singh brings a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to the prevention of age-related brain diseases, including dementia, stroke and late-life depression.

She earned her PhD in Neurosurgery from the University Medical Center Utrecht, co-supervised by leading faculty from University Medical Center Utrecht (Prof. Gabriel Rinkel) and Harvard Medical School (Prof. Joshua Goldstein) and completed an MSc in Global Health Science and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford as a Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Scholar. Her doctoral research led to paradigm-shifting insights into the treatment of cerebellar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), the deadliest subtype of stroke, contributing to the revisions of the 2022 AHA/ASA treatment guidelines.

At Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Singh leads the Singh Lab within Brain Care Labs, where she and her team are developing and testing scalable, evidence-based interventions to prevent stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. Her work focuses on shared modifiable risk factors and health equity, particularly for underrepresented populations around the globe.

Dr. Singh led the creation and validation of the Brain Care Score (BCS)—an innovative tool co-designed with patients and clinicians to help individuals assess and improve their brain health. The BCS has been featured on the front page of The Boston Globe and covered by The New York Times, CNN, CBS News, and NPR, reaching millions. She also led a global Delphi consensus process with 40 international experts to update the BCS based on emerging scientific evidence.

She is the Site Principal Investigator at MGH for two major, multi-site studies:

• REACH-ICH (National Institute of Health R01NS093870): Investigating the biological and social determinants of poor outcomes in hemorrhagic stroke survivors from historically marginalized communities.

• Bugher Foundation Center for Excellence in Brain Health (American Heart Association) - Clinical project: Investigating the biological and social determinants of poor short-term outcomes in hemorrhagic stroke survivors

• She is also the recipient of the Heitman Foundation Young Investigator Award, supporting the development of a novel intervention to improve blood pressure medication adherence and reduce secondary stroke risk in U.S. stroke survivors.

An internationally recognized speaker and author of more than 25 peer-reviewed papers—including in Stroke, Neurology, Lancet Neurology, and Frontiers in Neurology—Dr. Singh was recently invited to join the 2025 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Brain Health Science Task Force. She mentors PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and students at all levels, and leads global collaborations in brain health research and innovation.

Dr. Singh’s long-term vision is to transform the global landscape of brain disease prevention through developing and testing innovative, evidence-based tools that are inclusive, motivating, and scalable. 

Join Our Team

If you are interested in joining the Singh Lab at the Brain Care Labs at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School—where we focus on advancing brain health through research, innovation, and equity—please reach out to Dr. Singh’s Senior Administrative Manager at ckourkoulis@mgb.org.