Chairman
Benjamin M. Greenberg, M.D., M.H.S.
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
Director, Transverse Myelitis and Neuromyelitis Optica Program
Director, Pediatric Demyelinating Disease Clinic
Deputy-Director, Multiple Sclerosis Program
Cain-Denius Scholar in Mobility Disorders
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Dr. Benjamin Greenberg has directed a new program in transverse myelitis and neuromyelitis optica at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center since January of 2009. He serves as Deputy Director of the Multiple Sclerosis program and established the pediatric demyelinating disease program at Children's Hospital. Dr. Greenberg's research interests are in both the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis, transverse myelitis, neuromyelitis optica and encephalitis. He is actively involved in developing better ways to diagnose and prognosticate for patients with these disorders. He has led an effort to improve biorepository development and has created uniform protocols for sample handling and analysis. As part of this initiative Dr. Greenberg's research has identified novel biomarkers that may be able to distinguish between patients with various neurologic disorders. He also coordinates trials that study new treatments to prevent neurologic damage and restore function to those who have already been affected. His research is supported by grants from the Accelerated Cure Project and the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation.
Dr. Greenberg received his Bachelors from Johns Hopkins University and his Masters Degree in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Then, he completed an internship in medicine at Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois before going on to his residency in neurology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. After completing residency he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in neurovirology. He was a member of the Richard T. Johnson Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurological Infections. He was co-Director of the Transverse Myelitis Center and Director of the Encephalitis Center.
Amit Bar-Or, MD
Clinician-Scientist and Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery
McGill University/MUHC
Dr. Amit Bar-Or, a Clinician-Scientist, is Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University/MUHC, where he works as a neurologist and neuro-immunologist. He is also an Associate member of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill and a member of the MUHC Center for Host-Resistence. Dr. Bar-Or serves as Scientific Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the MNI, where he also founded and directs the Experimental Therapeutics Program, a Translational Neuroscience Program. His integrated activities at the MNI involve application of fundamental lab discoveries and novel experimental therapies to patients with neurological diseases. His laboratory at the MNI studies fundamental principles of human immune regulation amd immune-neural interactions, and how these relate to physiologic processes, injury and repair in the human central nervous system (CNS). Dr. Bar-Or coordinates several multi-center national and international translational research initiatives: He is co-principle investigator of the Canadian Pediatric Demyelinating Disease Study. He is the principle investigator for the CIHR/EndMS New Emerging Team (NET) in Immune Regulation and Biomarker Development. His lab also coordinates immune reconstitution studies of the Canadian MS BMT Group. Dr. Bar-Or has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, reviews and chapters, presented over 150 abstracts at scientific meetings, and has been a prolific speaker and advocate of translational research with over 130 invited lectures. He is holder of a McGill William Dawson Scholar Chair and recipient of the Foundation of Stars Investigator Award, an MNI Killam Award, FRSQ 'Chercheur Boursier Clinicien' Award and the MSSC Don Paty 'Career Scientist' Award.
Lisa F. Barcellos, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology
University of California, School of Public Health
Dr. Barcellos joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health in 2003. She also holds adjunct faculty appointments in the Department of Neurology, UC San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland. The primary focus of her research program at UC Berkeley is the genetic epidemiology of autoimmune disease including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. She is currently leading several large family and population-based studies aimed at the identification of genetic, social and/or environmental risk factors for these autoimmune conditions, including whole genome scanning approaches.
Dr. Barcellos received her Ph.D. in Immunology (emphasis Immunogenetics) from the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. She completed postdoctoral training in Genetic Epidemiology at the Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, and in Epidemiologic Methods at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Michael Elashoff, Ph.D.
Director, Biostatistics
CardioDx
Dr. Michael Elashoff is currently the director of Biostatistics at CardioDx, a molecular diagnostics company focusing on cardiovascular disease. Previously, he was director of Biostatistics at Gene Logic. Prior to that, he was a reviewer and team leader at the FDA's Division of Antiviral Drug Products and Division of Immunologic Drug Products. He received a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Harvard School of Public Health.
Avindra Nath, M.D.
Professor, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Avindra Nath is the Director of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurological Infections within the Department of Neurology. Over the last 20 years his research has largely focused on the effects of HIV infection on the brain. His laboratory is credited for demonstrating the role of HIV proteins in causing neuronal and glial cell dysfunction and in studying mechanisms of HIV latency in the brain. In recent years, his laboratory has focused on the role of innate immune responses such as oxidative stress and proteases in mediating neuronal injury in the context of HIV infection and the role of T cell-neuronal interactions in the context of immune reconstitution syndrome. His laboratory also uses a combination of proteomics and lipidomics to identify surrogate markers for HIV dementia and Multiple Sclerosis and discover novel targets for therapeutic intervention. He has published over 250 manuscripts, chapters and reviews, edited a book on Clinical Neuroviology and is the Associate editor of the Journal of Neurovirology. He is also the chair of the Section of Neuroinfectious diseases of the American Academy of Neurology and the Vice President of the International Society of Neurovirology. He is the co-director of a Neuro-AIDS Center grant at Johns Hopkins University funded by NIH.
Michael K. Racke, MD
Chairman, Neurology
The Ohio State University School of Medicine
Dr. Michael K. Racke has served as chairman of neurology at The Ohio State University School of Medicine since July 2006. He had previously served as Vice Chairman for Neurology Research and also as professor in the Center for Immunology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. His first faculty position was at Washington University in St. Louis, where he was the recipient of a Harry Weaver Neuroscience Junior Faculty Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Young Investigator in Multiple Sclerosis of the American Academy of Neurology Education and Research Foundation. His research focuses on understanding how inflammation gets established in the central nervous system and developing novel therapeutics by studying the animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. His research also centers on the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Dr. Racke has served on scientific advisory committees for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Institutes of Health, and the Hertie Foundation as well as on several editorial boards.
Dr. Racke received his M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School. He completed his neurology training at Emory University in Atlanta and a neuroimmunology fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.
