about

Dr. Amit Bar-Or is Associate Professor of Neurology and Associate in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University/MUHC and practicing neuroimmunologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI). His overall activities at the MNI involve application of fundamental lab discoveries and novel experimental therapies to patients with autoimmune and neurological diseases.

Dr. Bar-Or coordinates several multi-center national and international translational research initiatives. He is holder of a McGill William Dawson Scholar Chair and recipient of an MNI Killam Award, FRSQ 'Chercheur Boursier Clinicien' Award and the MSSC Don Paty 'Career Scientist' Award. Among advisory capacities, Dr. Bar-Or is on the editorial boards of Neurology, and Clinical and Experimental Neuroimmunology, is a member of the MS Monitoring Guideline Committee of the American Academy of Neurology, an advisor to the NIH Immune Tolerance Network (MS, Assay Development), and serves on the scientific boards of the Guthy-Jackson Greater-Good Foundation for NMO research, the Accelerated Cure Project, and the German National Neuroimmunology Kompetenz Network.

At the MNI, Dr. Bar-Or serves as Scientific Director of the Clinical Research Unit, and has also founded and directs the Experimental Therapeutics Program.

Dr. Bar-Or completed undergraduate studies in biopsychology at McMaster University (1988) and received his medical degree cum laude from McGill University (1993). He then pursued Internship and Neurology Residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University Medical School. He subsequently pursued postdoctoral fellowship training in Neuroimmunology at the Center for Neurologic Disease, Harvard, while also completed the prestigious Clinical Investigator Training Program (CITP) in Translational Research at Harvard and MIT. He was recruited to the MNI as a clinician scientist in 2000.

Dr. Hauser is the Chair of the Department of Neurology at UCSF. A neuroimmunologist, Dr. Hauser’s research has advanced our understanding of the genetic basis, immune mechanisms, and treatment of multiple sclerosis. Dr. Hauser is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Physicians, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (currently Chair of the Committee on Gulf War and Health Outcomes), an editor of the textbook Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, and editor-in-chief of Annals of Neurology. He is a former President of the American Neurological Association and President of the Medical Staff at UCSF. He also serves on several scientific advisory boards for nonprofit organizations. Dr. Hauser has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award and the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research. . He is a graduate of MIT (Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Medical School (Magna Cum Laude). He trained in internal medicine at the New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center, in neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and in immunology at Harvard Medical School and the Institute Pasteur in Paris, France, and was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School before moving to UCSF.

Dr. Paul O'Connor is a neurologist and Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program at St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto. He is a Professor of Medicine (Neurology) at the University of Toronto and holds the Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis Research at St. Michael's Hospital/University of Toronto. He directs the Clinical and Research Program at one of the largest MS Clinics in North America.

His particular research interests include the development of new therapies for MS and he played a leading role in successful clinical trials of natalizumab for MS that resulted in the approval of this treatment in relapsing-remitting disease. His more recent research interests include the development of oral therapies for MS including Teriflunomide, Fingolimod and vitamin-D.

Dr. O'Connor is a graduate of the University of Toronto and received his Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Neurology in 1985, with certification in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1986. A Masters of Science of degree in Clinical Epidemiology was obtained in 1991. Besides the development of new therapies for MS, he has an ongoing interest in clinical trial design and ethics.

Dr. O'Connor also serves as the National Scientific and Clinical Advisor for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and plays a major role in research administration and policy development on behalf of the Society. He is also president-elect of the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ACTRIMS).

Dr. Rosen is a Professor in the Departments of Chemical Physiology & Immunology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California where he focuses on pursuing his primary interests in lymphocyte trafficking and barrier regulation by signaling lipids, and contributing towards the development of translational infrastructure at TSRI. He chaired the Molecular Libraries Screening Network Steering Group, a part of the NIH Roadmap, and is PI of the Scripps Research Institute Molecular Screening Center, which recently was awarded an $88M grant from the National Institutes of Health. For more than a decade he served in various capacities at Merck Research Laboratories including Executive Director and Therapeutic Area head, and chair of Merck's Anti-bacterial and anti-fungal Worldwide Business Strategy Team. Since 2002 he has been a professor at the Scripps Research Institute, He is Associate Editor of Molecular Pharmacology and on the Editorial board of Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr Rosen is active in supporting medical research charities, having served on the Scientific Board of the Scleroderma Foundation from1992-2000, and currently serves on the Scientific Board of the Myeloproliferative Diseases Foundation. He was elected to the Association of American Physicians in 2008 and to the Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2011. He received his MB.ChB. (M.D.) with distinction and honors from the University of Cape Town. He attended the University of Oxford as a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Scholar, and received his D.Phil. in Physiological Sciences at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology.

Dr. Steinman is a Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Pediatrics, and Genetics and Chair of the Stanford University Program in Immunology. Dr. Steinman’s research focuses on what provokes relapses and remissions in multiple sclerosis (MS), the nature of the genes that serve as a brake on brain inflammation, and the quest for a vaccine against MS. 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 holds a number of patents in the areas of immunology and MS. He cofounded Neurocrine Biosciences, Bayhill Therapeutics, and Nuon Therapeutics. He serves on the Board of Directors of Bayhill Therapeutics, and was a member of the Board of Directors of Centocor from 1988 until its sale to Johnson and Johnson in 1998. 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. He has twice been awarded the Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the Nation Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.. Steinman is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. 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. Topol is one of the leading physicians in the United States. He is a pioneer of the genomic and wireless digital innovative technologies to reshape the future of medicine. He is a practicing cardiologist at Scripps in La Jolla, California and well known for leading the Cleveland Clinic to become the #1 center for heart care. While there he also started a new medical school, led many worldwide clinical trials to advance care for patients with heart disease, and spearheaded the discovery of multiple genes that increase susceptibility for heart attacks. Since 2006, in La Jolla, he leads the flagship NIH supported Scripps Translational Science Institute and is a co-Founder and the Vice-Chairman of the West Wireless Health Institute. He also serves as Chief Academic Officer of Scripps Health and Professor of Translational Genomics at The Scripps Research Institute. Topol pioneered the development of many medications that are routinely used in medical practice including t-PA, Plavix, Angiomax, and ReoPro and was the first physician to raise safety concerns on Vioxx. He has published 1100 peer-reviewed articles and over 30 medical textbooks. In 2009, along with Francis Collins and Harold Varmus, Topol was selected to be one of the country's 12 "Rock Stars of Science" in GQ Magazine. In 2011, the University of Michigan, where he had served on the faculty, initiated the Eric Topol Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine to recognize his contributions. The University of Rochester, his alma mater medical school, awarded him the Hutchison Medal, the University's highest honor. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 and is one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine. His book The Creative Destruction of Medicine (Basic Books) is due out at then end of 2011.