Autoimmune Neurology

Autoimmune Neurology presents the latest information on autoimmune neurologic disease, the immune response to the body where organs run wild, causing the immune system to attack itself. Autoimmunity is a main element in numerous nervous system diseases and can target any structure within the central or peripheral nervous system.

Over the past 20 years, significant advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of autoimmune disorders, including the use of biomarkers has led to new diagnosis and treatment options. Neurologic conditions associated with autoimmune reactions include dementia, neuromuscular disease, epilepsy, sleep disorders, diabetes, and other common neurologic disorders and disease.

This current tutorial-reference will be a must-have title for clinical neurologists, research neurologists, neuroscientists, and any medical professional working with autoimmune disease and disorders.

Sean Pittock, M.D., is a consultant in the Department of Neurology and has a joint appointment in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He holds the academic rank of professor of neurology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He currently serves as director of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory and is the Marilyn A. Park and Moon S. Park, M.D., Director of the Center for Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Neurology. He joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 2005.

Dr. Pittock’s research and clinical interests include autoimmune neurological disorders, paraneoplastic diseases, neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis. His research focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disorders that target the central and peripheral nervous systems. He founded the Autoimmune Neurology Clinic at Mayo Clinic in 2006, which has allowed the development of a unique translational practice extending the laboratory's serological findings directly from bench to bedside. He has been involved in cutting edge trials of novel immunotherapies to treat NMO and other autoimmune neurologic diseases. He has been invited to give over 100 presentations on his research and has authored over 275 journal articles, abstracts and other written publications.

He is currently the Chair of the Autoimmune Neurology Special Interest Group at the American Neurological Association and directs the educational program on Neuromyelitis Optica at the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Pittock serves on numerous professional societies and associations, including the Minnesota Medical Association and American Academy of Neurology, and is a committee member of the American Neurological Association.

Angela Vincent qualified as a doctor at Westminster Hospital Medical School but after one year post qualification residence, she enrolled to do an MSc in Biochemistry at University College London. Subsequently, working with Ricardo Miledi FRS, she became involved in some of the earliest studies on acetylcholine receptors in myasthenia gravis, and in defining the genetic basis of congenital myasthenic syndromes, and began a long partnership with John Newsom-Davis (later FRS), first at the Royal Free Hospital in London and then at the newly-established Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford. Since Newsom-Davis’ retirement in 1998, she has led the neuroimmunology research in Oxford. In 1992 she established a national and international referral centre for the diagnosis of immune-mediated neurological diseases. From 2005-2008, when she officially retired, she was Head of Department of Clinical Neurology.

Although post-retirement age, she has a five-year contract with the University, is an Honorary Consultant in Immunology and still runs the Oxford Neuroimmunology Service for detection of autoantibodies in neurological diseases. Her clinical interests are in the role of auto-antibodies to ion channels and receptors in peripheral and central disorders, and in helping to diagnose immunotherapy-responsive conditions. Her research interests include models of neuromuscular junction and CNS diseases, and the influence of maternal antibodies on development.

Angela Vincent has an Honorary degree from the University of Bergen (2004), and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci, 2002) and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS, 2011), as well as Honorary Member American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine, and Honorary Fellow of the American Neurological Association. She has received the Duchenne-Erb Award, German Muscle Society, Darmstadt (2009), and the Medal of the Association of British Neurologists (2009) among other awards. She was previously President of the International Society of Neuroimmunology (2001-2004), was an Associate Editor of Brain (2004-2013), and co-edited four books including Inflammatory and Autoimmune Disorders of the Nervous System in Children (RC Dale, A Vincent. Mac Keith Press 2010.

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