Scientific Advisory Board

Stanley H. Appel, M.D.

• Dr. Appel is former chair of the Stanley H. Appel Department of Neurology. He is the director of the Ann Kimball & John W. Johnson Center for Cellular Therapeutics.  Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and the Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Chair for the Treatment and Research of ALS at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. He was previously Chair of the Department of Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine as well as Chief of the Neurology division and the James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina.
• Dr. Appel is dedicated to the treatment of patients with ALS. He has spent more than 40 years devoted to understanding the human brain. Dr. Appel is creator and director of the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute's MDA/ALSA ALS Research and Clinical Center in Houston.  Dr. Appel's laboratory focuses on developing new insights into ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease, and was the first to document regulatory T-lymphocytes modulate disease progression in ALS patients. His focus is on enhancing the protective immunity of T-reg cells and anti-inflammatory microglia in neurodegeneration.

Robert H. Brown, M.D., D.Phil.

•  Dr. Brown's laboratory has focused on the identification of gene defects that elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of selected neuromuscular diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), muscular dystrophy, adrenoleukodystrophy, hereditary neuropathy and hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. 
• Knowledge of these disease genes has facilitated the creation of mouse and cell-based models of these disorders. 
• In turn, these resources have allowed study of therapeutic strategies using conventional small molecule approaches and new modalities such as inhibitory RNAi. 
•  Dr. Brown is originally from Massachusetts. He completed a B.A. in Biophysics (Amherst College, 1969); a D.Phil. in Neurophysiology (Oxford, 1973); and an M.D. (Harvard, 1975).  At the MGH, he established and directed the Day Neuromuscular Research Laboratory and co-directed the Neuromuscular Clinic. In 1983 he began studies of the genetics of ALS and related disorders, jointly with colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and several universities outside of Boston. In 1998, he was awarded tenure as Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. In 2008, he became the chair of neurology at UMMS. 

Marianna Castells, M.D., Ph.D.

Mark S. Freedman, HBSC, MSC, MD, CSPQ, FAAN, FRCPC

• Mariana Castells is of Professor, of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Harvard Medical School 
• Director, Adverse Drug Reaction and Desensitization Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital
• Dr. Castells attended medical school at The Universität Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, performed her residency at Kansas University Medical Center, and her fellowship at The Medical College of Virginia
• Dr. Castells is board certified in Internal Medicine and Allergy & Immunology
• Dr. Castels is a world renowned specialist in the innate immune system, and one of the first to recognize mast cell activation syndrome as a stand alone disease with serious ramifications, including life threatening anaphylaxis.

Mark S. Freedman, HBSC, MSC, MD, CSPQ, FAAN, FRCPC

Mark S. Freedman, HBSC, MSC, MD, CSPQ, FAAN, FRCPC

•  Mark Freedman is Professor of Medicine (Neurology) at the University of Ottawa, Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Unit at the Ottawa Hospital-General Campus.
• Executive Director, MS Research Unit at the Ottawa Hospital
• Lead Investigator, Canadian Bone Marrow Transplant Study in MS
• Director, Canadian Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in MS Study 
• Co-Director, International Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in MS Study Group. 
• President elect of the Americas Committee  for the Research and Treatment of MS (ACTRIMS)

Benjamin M. Greenberg, M.D., M.H.S.

• Dr. Greenberg is an Associate Professor and the Cain Denius Scholar in Mobility Disorders in the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at UT Southwestern Medical Center.  
• Dr. Greenberg is  internationally recognized expert in treating rare autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system. 
• He is also the interim Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center and the Director of the Neurosciences Clinical Research Center, and is the Director of the Transverse Myelitis and Neuromyelitis Optica Program and the Pediatric Demyelinating Disease Program at Children’s Medical Center – which he established as one of only two U.S. programs of its kind. 
• Dr. Greenberg earned his M.D.  at Baylor College of Medicine before completing an internal medicine internship at Chicago’s Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center. 
• Dr. Greenberg He performed his neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, serving as Chief Resident his final year. 
• He also holds an M.H.S. in molecular microbiology and immunology from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, as well as a bachelor’s degree in the history of medicine – both from Johns Hopkins. 

Adam Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D.

 

• Dr. Kaplin  is a Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neuropsychiatry  at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Chief Psychiatric Consultant, Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Clinics, Department of Neurology
• Attending Physician, HIV/AIDS Psychiatry Service,  Department of Psychiatry
• Dr. Kaplin received his Bachelor of Science from Yale University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Timothy Riley, Ph.D.

• Dr. Riley has been working in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry For over thirty years.
• He has developed multiple drugs approved by the FDA, and more approaching approval. 
• His products are projected to be multi-billion dollar products and have created over $6 billion in market capitalization.
• He has built and led successful teams in pharmaceutical research and development. 
• Therapeutic areas include Rare Diseases, Hemophilia, Pain, Oncology, Antivirals. 
• Dr. Riley is an entrepreneur in residence at Yale University.
• Dr. Riley received his bachelor of science,, and PH.D. in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D.

• Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein focuses on neuromuscular diseases, with a particular focus on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Other clinical areas relevant to his laboratory-based research include: idiopathic stupor, epilepsy and motor neuron degeneration.
• His laboratory includes more than 20-post doctoral fellows, neurology residents, neuromuscular and epilepsy fellows, undergraduate students, technicians and ALS clinic staff. He has been the principal and/or local investigator in eight national or international trials in ALS. He is the author of more than 100 articles on basic and clinical neuroscience. Dr. Rothstein's laboratory research is funded through the National Institutes of Health, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the ALS Association and Project A.L.S.
• Dr. Rothstein received a masters degree in neurochemistry from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Illinois Health Sciences Center. He then obtained his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He went on to complete an internship at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital before joining The Johns Hopkins for his residency. While at Johns Hopkins, he became chief resident in neurology and completed his fellowship in neuromuscular disease.

Lawrence Steinman, M.D.

Lawrence Steinman, M.D.

 

• Dr. Lawrence Steinman is a professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Pediatrics, and Genetics.  He also served as the Chair of the Stanford University Interdepartmental Program in Immunology from 2003-2011.
• Dr. Steinman's research focuses on what provokes relapses and remission in multiple sclerosis (MS), the nature of the molecules that serve as a brake on the brain  inflammation, and the quest for a tolerizing vaccine for autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and neuromyelitis optica.  He has developed two antigen specific therapies, using DNA vaccines, for MS and type 1 diabetes.  
• He was senior author on the seminal 1992 Nature article that reported the key role of a particular integrin in brain inflammation.  This research led to the development of the drug Tysabri, which is used to treat patients with MS and Crohn's disease.
• Dr. Steinman received his BA from Dartmouth College and his MD from Harvard University. He was a post-doctoral fellow in chemical immunology fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Dr. Steinman returned to Stanford University Hospital as a resident in pediatric and adult neurology and then joined the faculty at Stanford in 1980.
• Dr. Steinman has received numerous honors and awards, including the John M. Dystel Prize from the American Academy of Neurology and the National MS Society for his research on MS, and the Charcot Prize for Lifetime Achievement in MS research. He has twice been awarded the Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.