Anne MacGregor

Prof Anne MacGregor MD is a medical researcher and clinician based in London, United Kingdom. She is a leading researcher in the field of hormonal effects on migraine.

Prof MacGregor received her MB BS from St Bartholomew's Hospital in London in 1986. Although she has undertaken research in all aspects of primary headaches, her postgraduate interest has focussed on the effects of female sex hormones on headache. She is a member of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (MFSRH). Her MD Thesis discussed the role of oestrogen in menstrual migraine. Through her work, she delineated clinical definitions for menstrual migraine, accepted by the International Headache Society. She has participated in over 40 industry sponsored clinical trials and over 20 non-industry research trials related to migraine, headache and reproductive health.

She is currently honorary Professor at the Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma within the Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and Associate Specialist in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare at Barts Health NHS Trust, London as well as working in private practice.

Between January 1988 and July 2011 Prof MacGregor worked at the City of London Migraine Clinic, initially training under the neurologists Dr Marcia Wilkinson and Dr Nat Blau. In 1999 she became Director of Clinical Research and joined the Board of Directors as Vice Chairman. She was actively involved with the other headache charities, serving as a trustee of the Migraine Trust and member of the Medical Advisory Board of Migraine Action Association. She has served on the Executive Boards of the British Association for the Study of Headache and the Anglo-Dutch Migraine Association. For almost a decade she was on the Board of Directors of the International Headache Society, serving first as Honorary General Secretary and later as Honorary Treasurer. She was an assistant editor of Cephalagia between 1989 and 1992. In 2002 she received the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Award, which was awarded by the World Headache Alliance to a woman who has "made an extraordinary contribution toward relieving the burden of headaches on those affected".

In addition to her work in headache, Prof MacGregor is active in the field of education and also sexual and reproductive healthcare. She is joint Vice Chair of the Examination Committee and Convener of the critical reading question group for the MFSRH. She is General Training Programme Director for Barts Health NHS Trust.

She writes for and lectures to healthcare professionals and lay groups both nationally and internationally. She has published over 180 research papers and book chapters, five single author books, co-authored five books and co-edited three books. She was an expert advisor for the NICE headache guidelines and is a co-author of British Association for the Study of Headache (BASH) Headache Management Guidelines, now in their 3rd edition.

• 2011 Special Recognition Award and Honorary Life Membership, International Headache Society
• 2002 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Award, World Headache Alliance

• Sutherland HG, Buteri J, Menon S, Haupt LM, MacGregor EA, Lea RA, Griffiths LR. Association study of the calcitonin gene-related polypeptide-alpha (CALCA) and the receptor activity modifying 1 (RAMP1) genes with migraine. Gene 2013 (in press)
• MacGregor EA. Contraception and Headache. Headache 2013;53:247-76
• Westergaard ML, Steiner TJ, MacGregor EA, Antonaci F, Tassorelli C,Buse DC, Lipton RB, Jensen RH. The Headache Under-Response to Treatment (HURT) Questionnaire: Assessment of utility in headache specialist care. Cephalalgia 2013;33:245–55
• Guillebaud J, MacGregor A. Contraception: your questions answered (6th Edition) Elsevier 2013 ISBN 978-0-7020-4619-3
• MacGregor EA. Headache in Pregnancy. Neurol Clin 2012;30:835-66
• MacGregor EA. Classification of Perimenstrual Headache: Clinical Relevance. Curr Pain Headache Reports 2012;16:452-60
• MacGregor EA. Minireview: Perimenopausal migraine in women with vasomotor symptoms. Maturitas 2012;71:79-82
• MacGregor EA. Progress in the pharmacotherapy of menstrual migraine. Clinical Medicine Insights: Therapeutics 2011:3 245–273
• MacGregor EA, Rosenberg JD, Kurth T. Sex-related differences in epidemiological and clinic-based headache studies. Headache 2011;51:843-59
• Guillebaud J, MacGregor A. The Pill and other forms of hormonal contraception (7th Edition) OUP 2009 ISBN 978-0-19-956576-4
• MacGregor EA, Frith A (Eds). ABC of Headache. Wiley Blackwell 2008 ISBN 978-1-4051-7066-6
• MacGregor Dr Anne. Understanding Migraine and Other Headaches. Family Doctor Publications (BMA) 2006 ISBN 1-903474-49-3
• MacGregor Dr. Anne. Understanding the menopause and HRT. Family Doctor Publications (BMA). 2006 ISBN 1-903474-24-8
• MacGregor EA. Management of migraine during pregnancy. Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry 2009;13(5):21-3.
• MacGregor EA. Estrogen replacement and migraine. Maturitas 2009:63(1):51-5
• MacGregor EA. Migraine Headache in Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women. Curr Pain Headache Rep 2009;13(5):399-403
• MacGregor EA. Menstrual migraine - therapeutic approaches. Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders 2009;2(5);327-36
• MacGregor EA, Frith A, Ellis J, Aspinall L, Hackshaw A. Prevention of menstrual attacks of migraine: a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study. Neurology 2006;67(12):2159-63.
• MacGregor EA, Frith A, Ellis J, Aspinall L, Hackshaw A. Incidence of migraine relative to menstrual cycle phases of rising and falling estrogen. Neurology 2006;67(12):2154-8.
• MacGregor EA, Frith A, Ellis J, Apsinall L. Predicting menstrual migraine with a home-use fertility monitor. Neurology 2005;64:561-3.
• MacGregor EA, Hackshaw A. Prevalence of migraine on each day of the natural menstrual cycle. Neurology 2004;63:351-3.
• MacGregor EA, Hackshaw A. Prevention of migraine in the pill-free week of combined oral contraceptives using natural oestrogen supplements. J Fam Plann Reprod Healthcare 2002;28:27-31
• MacGregor EA. Menstrual migraine: towards a definition. Cephalalgia 1996;16:11-21.
• MacGregor EA, Chia HMY, Vohrah C, Wilkinson M. Migraine and menstruation: a pilot study. Cephalalgia 1990;10:305-10.