Jeffrey D. Rothstein

JEFFREY D. ROTHSTEIN, the inaugural John W. Griffin Director of the Brain Science Institute, received a master’s degree in neurochemistry from the University of Chicago and a PhD 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 and went on to complete an internship at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital before joining The Johns Hopkins Hospital for his residency. While at Johns Hopkins, he became chief resident in neurology and completed his fellowship in neuromuscular disease.

Now a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Rothstein focuses on neuromuscular diseases, in particular on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In 2000, Dr. Rothstein organized the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins and serves as medical director. This is the first multi-institutional, multi-national collaborative academic organization devoted to understanding the causes of ALS and translating the information into new drug and cell-based therapies. It was his research on ALS pathogenesis that led to the first successful, FDA-approved drug to alter neurodegeneration in ALS. Other clinical areas relevant to his laboratory-based research include idiopathic stupor, epilepsy and motor neuron degeneration.