Dr. Robert Macdonald, chairman of Neurology, has a goal to boost the department into the top 10 in the nation.
Neurology plans take root under leadership
Dr. Martin Gallagher, assistant professor of Neurology, far right, assists students Sunita Misra, Dorothy Jones and David Hinkle in Dr. Robert Macdonald's lab in MRB III. Gallagher is one of five new physician-scientists hired recently to study topics ranging from sonic hedgehog signaling to the genetics of movement disorders. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Dr. Robert Macdonald came to Vanderbilt a year ago as the new chairman of Neurology with a plan to grow the department.
You might say most of the crop’s been planted, and the yields are promising, with prospects for basic science and new clinical programs to compete in the marketplace.
Neurology has been clinically focused. “With Dr. Macdonald’s plan now in motion, we are building on the excellent patient care and teaching programs we have had, adding basic science and clinical research initiatives that will be important for our patients and our trianees,” said Dr. Steven G. Gabbe, dean of the School of Medicine.
Neurology’s main quantifiable research objective, Macdonald said recently, is to produce neurology science and clinical programs that garner NIH dollars. Currently, the department is ranked only 59th in the country. “We want to be in the top 30, then the top 20 and ultimately the top 10,” he said.
It’s already gotten a boost. Before Macdonald arrived, Neurology had only one RO1 senior scientist research project grant. He brought four RO1 grants of his own.
Another countable measure, which will be responsible for producing the first goal, is more faculty. Macdonald envisions a total of six new clinical faculty and 15 physician-scientists.
Already, five new physician-scientists, several who have received K08, or mentored medical science grants, have been hired to study topics ranging from sonic hedgehog signaling to the genetics of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, to ion channel function in the genetics of epilepsy and GABAA receptor function during prolonged seizures. Drs. Stephen Lee, Peter Hedera and Martin Gallagher started at VUMC in July; Dr. Andre Lagrange will start in August and Dr. Michael Cooper will join in September. Lee, Gallagher and Lagrange also have Ph.D. degrees. The new scientists will have their laboratories on the 6th floor in the new Biological Sciences Building/MRB III.
Two clinical neurologists, Drs. Anne O’Duffy and Pradumna Singh, have joined the department, and two more, Drs. Adrian Jarquin-Valdivia and Susan Naselli, will come aboard in August. O’Duffy and Jarquin-Valdivia are stroke specialists; Singh is an epileptologist and has a joint appointment with Meharry Medical College and Naselli is a general neurologist and epileptologist.
Also, the residency has been increased from four to five residents per year, giving the department a total of 15 house staff.
In coming here, Macdonald noted Vanderbilt’s fertile basic science fields in which clinical neuroscience could quickly take root.
After the recruitment of the new faculty, Macdonald will head a new Brain Disorders Center that will be cross-departmental and cross-disciplinary. The Center will be organized into diseases-based research groups such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke and epilepsy, and the research will focus on animal models of these human diseases. Collaborations will be forged with imaging, genetics and animal model core groups, and with researchers at the Kennedy Center and in the College of Arts and Science.
On the clinical side, a physician is being recruited to head a new Vanderbilt Sleep Center that will have physicians from Neurology and the division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. The Center will evaluate and treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea and parasomnias, such as narcolepsy, and is expected to compete with other local facilities.
A neuromuscular program will also be established with clinics for patients with diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, peripheral neuropathy and muscular dystrophy.
The department will also see the expansion of the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit and programs in stroke and general neurology and the development of a Neurosonology Unit.
“The major issue is offering excellent clinical services in neurology,” Macdonald said. “There is a great need for greater access to expert care in many of these areas. Vanderbilt has a large catchment area, and our ability to develop more services for all of Tennessee, and beyond, is very high.”