Medico-Legal Experience

Dr Richard Ibitoye is an NHS Consultant Neurologist with specialist expertise in vestibular neurology and stroke medicine. His medico-legal practice is informed by extensive clinical and academic experience in dizziness and balance disorders, stroke and cerebral small vessel disease. He combines active frontline NHS practice with a strong research background to provide detailed, evidence-based medico-legal opinions in neurological cases.

Neurologist expert witness Dr Ibitoye completed the British Medical Association Excellence in Medico-Legal Report Writing Course in 2025 and prepares clear, structured reports grounded in current clinical evidence and specialist neurological assessment. His expertise includes complex neurological presentations involving dizziness, vestibular dysfunction, stroke, cerebrovascular disease and neurological diagnostic assessment.

Clinical Experience

Dr Richard Ibitoye is a substantive NHS Consultant in Neurology and Stroke Medicine, working at North Bristol NHS Trust. His clinical work includes the assessment and management of patients with acute and long-term neurological conditions in the Bristol regional neuroscience centre, and patients with acute stroke within the regional comprehensive hyperacute stroke centre. 

Dr Ibitoye studied medicine at the University of Cambridge, receiving college awards for excellence. As the first regional NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurology, he completed neurology higher specialty training within the Severn Deanery. He took time out of training to complete a Clinical Research Fellowship at Imperial College London. During the fellowship, he managed outpatients with vestibular disorders at Imperial College and University College London Hospitals – the two national centres of excellence for neuro-otology. His PhD research applied computational neuroscience to chronic dizziness in older people, revealing a link with small vessel disease. For this work, he was awarded the prestigious Hallpike Prize for excellence in vestibular research. He subsequently applied for, and was awarded a Guarantors of Brain Postdoctoral Fellowship to further investigate the effects of small vessel disease on human balance – completed at University College London in 2023. 

His research and publications span many areas of neurology, with a more recent focus on the functional neuroanatomy of the vestibular system, chronic dizziness, balance and small vessel disease (a major cause of stroke). His work has been presented orally at national, and international conferences (e.g. Barany Society Meeting, and World Congress of Neurology), with publications in good peer-reviewed journals (e.g. the BMJ, and Cerebral Cortex).

Special Interests

• Vestibular neurology
• Dizziness and balance disorders
• Stroke medicine
• Cerebral small vessel disease
• Neuro-otology
• Cerebrovascular disease
• Neurological diagnostic assessment
• Complex neurological presentations

Memberships of Professional Bodies

• Association of British Neurologists
• British Medical Association
• General Medical Council Specialist Register for Neurology (GMC No 7045784)

Further information

Download Dr Ibitoye’s CV to learn more about his qualifications, research, publications and clinical experience.