Nick Ward trained in medicine at Charing Cross & Westminster Hospital in London, where he also obtained an intercalated degree in Neuropharmacology. His postgraduate training in neurology took place at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square and The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel.
In 1999, he was awarded the first Clinical Fellowship in Stroke Medicine by the Stroke Association. Subsequently, he joined Professor Richard Frackowiak at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging (WTCN), UCL, as a Wellcome Trust funded clinical research fellow. He used fMRI to study motor recovery after stroke and carried out work which led to the award of his MD (University of London).