Announcing the 2016 American Academy of Neurology Research Program Recipients

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 20, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the world's largest association of neurologists, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2016 AAN Research Program. This year's program has awarded nearly $3 million dollars toward neuroscience research and training. The individual awards will be presented during the American Academy of Neurology's 68th Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada, April 15 to 21, 2016, at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Funding will support the following 2016 AAN Research Program recipients and projects:

Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation.
Santosh Murthy, MD, MPH, Weill Cornell Medical College
Research Project: Central Nervous Inflammation in Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Temporal Changes and Clinical Outcomes
Ellen Penney, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School
Research Project: Molecular Insights from iPSC-Derived Models in X-linked Dystonia Parkinsonism
Caitlin Rollins, MD, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Research Project: Fetal Brain Development in Congenital Heart Disease

Practice Research Training Fellowship
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation.
Mia Minen, MD, MPH, New York University Langone Medical Center
Research Project: Improving Health Outcomes in People with Migraine Seeking Care in the Emergency Department

Susan S. Spencer Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, the American Epilepsy Society, and the Epilepsy Foundation.
Paula Voinescu, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women Hospital
Research Project: Consequences of Altering Antiepileptic Drugs for Pregnancy Planning in Women with Epilepsy

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Epilepsy
Program funding by Lundbeck.
Vaishnav Krishnan, MD, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Research Project: The Role of Cbln1 in Mediating Seizure-Induced Impairments in Social Behavior

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Tourette Syndrome 
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, and the Tourette Association of America.
Matthew Capriotti, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
Research Project: Incorporating TeleCBIT into a Hospital-Based Tic Clinic

Clinician-Scientist Development Three-Year Award in Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders of the Neuromuscular Junction
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America.
Michael Hehir, MD, University of Vermont
Research Project: Immunosuppressive Cost Unit: A Novel Method to Assess the Value and Cost of Immunosuppressant Side Effects

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Stroke
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, and Genentech.
Chia-Ling Phuah, MBBChir(Cantab), Massachusetts General Hospital
Research Project: Genetic Analyses of Inflammatory Pathways in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Parkinson's Disease
Program funding by Lundbeck.
Katherine McDonell, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Research Project: Norepinephrine-targeted Therapy for Action Control in Parkinson Disease

Clinician-Scientist Development Three-Year Award in ALS Research
Program funding by the ALS Association.
Lindsey Hayes, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Research Project: Pharmacodynamic Biomarker Development for C9ORF72 Antisense Therapy

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in ALS Research 
Program funding by the ALS Association.
Cindy Ly, MD, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis
Research Project: Investigating Innate Immunity and Autophagy in TBK1-associated ALS

John F. Kurtzke, MD, FAAN Clinician-Scientist Development Three-Year Award in Multiple Sclerosis
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, and the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers.
Pavan Bhargava, MBBS, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Research Project: Targeting Leptomeningeal Inflammation for Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis
Program funding by Genzyme, a Sanofi Company.
Christopher Hemond, MD, Brigham & Women's Hospital
Research Project: A Longitudinal Study of Unique MS-MRI Phenotypes and Their Linkage to Immune Profiles                                                    

Clinician-Scientist Development Award in Multiple Sclerosis
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, and the National MS Society.
Joseph Sabatino, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
Research Project: Myelin-specific CD8+ T cell pathogenicity in multiple sclerosis

Clinical Research Training Fellowship in Alzheimer's Disease
Program funding by the Allergan Foundation. 
Stephanie Buss, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Research Project: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as a Biomarker in Mild Cognitive Impairment
Fanny Elahi, MD, DPhil, University of California, San Francisco
Research Project: Disentangling Contributions from Chronic Inflammation, Cerebral Amyloid Burden and White Matter Integrity to Age-related Cognitive Decline in a Longitudinal Cohort of Functionally Intact Older Adults

Lawrence M. Brass, MD, Stroke Research Award
Cosponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Brain Foundation, and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Karen Hirsch, MD, Stanford University
Research Project: Post-cardiac Arrest Brain Injury: Novel Methodologies to Quantify Severity and Predict Outcome

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of 30,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

SOURCE American Academy of Neurology