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DAVID CLIFFORD, MD
Dr. David Clifford is the Melba and Forest Seay Professor of Clinical Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Clifford has broad research interests in neuropharmacology, and has worked in epilepsy, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, and HIV-associated neurologic conditions. Since 1993, he has led the Neurologic AIDS Research Consortium, an NIH-funded national research group developing improved therapy for neuroAIDS complications. He has also participated in neuroAIDS research in several African countries.
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) has become a major focus of his work as a neurologic complication of HIV, and more recently as it has gained importance in targeted therapies for multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Clifford has spent his entire career at Washington University School of Medicine, attaining the rank of Professor in 1994, and directing its residency program from 1991-2004. He is Honorary Professor of Neurology at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.
MICHAEL KATTAN, PHD
Dr. Michael Kattan is Chairman of the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences at The Cleveland Clinic and Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
His primary interest is in the development, validation, and use of prediction models, called nomograms, and has developed several such models in cancer. He is also interested in quality of life assessment to support medical decision-making, such as utility assessment. Other interests include decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis. He has over 300 peer-reviewed publications. He serves on the editorial boards for Cancer Investigation and Nature Clinical Practice Urology.
Dr. Kattan has a PhD in management information systems with a minor in statistics. He also holds an MBA with concentration in quantitative sciences. Following his studies, he completed a postdoctoral program in medical informatics before joining the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
RUSSELL KATZ, MD
Dr. Russell Katz is Director of the Division of Neurology Products at the Food and Drug Administration, and has been a member of that division for 27 years.
His division is responsible for the regulation of investigational drug research and approval, for drugs to treat a wide range of neurologic diseases. He frequently speaks and writes about all aspects of neurologic drug development, review, and approval.
Dr. Katz obtained his BA in mathematics from Queens College in New York City and his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. After completing an internship in general surgery and two years of a neurosurgery residency, he completed his training in neurology in 1982.
TANJA KUHLMANN, MD
Dr. Tanja Kuhlmann is Associate Professor and Senior Consultant for Neuropathology at the Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital in Münster, Germany
Her key research interests are mechanisms leading to oligodendroglial and axonal pathology in multiple sclerosis lesions, with an emphasis on oligodendroglial loss and remyelination.
Dr. Kuhlmann studied medicine and neuropathology at the University of Göttingen, and did postdoctoral work at McGill University in Canada.
STEFANO PLUCHINO, MD, PHD
Dr. Stefano Pluchino is Professor of Neurology at the University Vita e Salute in Milano, Italy. He also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in Neurology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington and has recently been appointed to a lectureship at the University of Cambridge, within the Centre for Brain Repair in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.
A major focus of Dr. Pluchino’s work has been the exploitation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating the therapeutic plasticity of neural progenitor cells in inflammatory CNS diseases such as multiple sclerosis, ischemic stroke, and spinal cord injury. Current research projects are exploring the different modalities by which transplanted stem cells engage programs of horizontal cell-to-cell communication with cells in the microenvironment.
Dr. Pluchino received his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Siena, Italy, and additional training at Cambridge University.
RICHARD RANSOHOFF, MD
Dr. Richard Ransohoff is Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center in the Department of Neurosciences at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic
His primary clinical interests are multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology. His research has focused on the functions of chemokines and chemokine receptors in development and pathology of the nervous system. Dr. Ransohoff also has a longstanding and continuing interest in the mechanisms of action of interferon-beta. He has published more than 150 scientific reports, more than 50 reviews and book chapters, and edited three books. He is a member of the National MS Society’s Medical Advisory Board.
Dr. Ransohoff received his MD degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and took a Postdoctoral Fellowship there in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. He is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine; and Staff Neurologist in the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research at the Cleveland Clinic.
NEIL SCOLDING, MD, PHD
Dr. Neil Scolding is Burden Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, UK.
His clinical and research efforts are focused on multiple sclerosis and other diseases characterized by inflammation in the nervous system, and the biological exploration and clinical development of stem cell therapies for MS and other neurodegenerative diseases. He has published three textbooks and a number of research papers.
Dr. Scolding trained in neurology in Cardiff, Cambridge, and at the National Hospital for Neurological Diseases in London; he also holds PhD in clinical neuroscience. He is Hon. Consultant Neurologist at the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Bristol.
