Wisconsin MS Researchers

Michael Carrithers, M.D., Ph.D. – University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Michael Carrithers is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and treats patients at the University Hospital and Clinics MS Clinic and the William S. Middleton Veterans Hospital. Dr. Carrithers is board-certified in psychiatry and neurology. He completed his residency and fellowship at Yale University. He serves on the National MS Society’s.

Dr. Carrithers is studying how immune cells move through the body. His primary goal is to develop treatment strategies that will help maintain normal immune surveillance in the brain to treat people with MS.

Shing-yan (Bill) Chiu, Ph.D. – University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Bill Chiu is a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Washington. Chiu’s research has been supported by the National MS Society for about 30 years.

Chiu is using sophisticated imaging tools to capture “movies” of nerve fibers to study the movement of mitochondria, which generate energy for the myelinated nerve fibers. Mitochondria malfunctions may play a role in MS, so this basic science may eventually lead to a clinical benefit.

Bonnie Dittel, Ph.D. – BloodCenter of Wisconsin
Bonnie Dittel is a Senior Investigator at the BloodCenter of Wisconsin- BloodResearch Institute, located in Milwaukee. She is an assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Minnesota and continued her postdoctoral training at Yale University. Dittel serves as a member of the National MS Society’s.

Dittel is investigating the role of cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) in immune regulation of the animal model of MS, EAE. She is studying how synthetic and plant-derived cannabinoids that bind to CB2 affect immune system cell activity. This laboratory work may lead to treatments for MS.

Ian Duncan, BVMS, Ph.D. – University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine
Ian Duncan is a professor of neurology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. He completed his Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine & Surgery and doctorate studies at Glasgow University. Duncan is an advocate and fundraiser for the National MS Society. He is a Bike MS captain and is the force behind the Wisconsin’s Chapter’s relationship with the American Birkebeiner.

Duncan was the recipient of a $3.4 million grant from the National MS Society Promise: 2010 Nervous System Repair and Protection initiative. One of the goals of his research is to repair the myelin sheaths that are damaged in MS. Duncan demonstrated that remyelination can occur in an animal model that has extensive demyelination. His team also studies transplantation of myelin-making cells to repair damage in the nervous system.

Aaron Field, M.D., Ph.D. – University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Aaron Field is an associate professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and Director of the Clinical Neuroradiology Fellowship Program for UW medical students. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed the M.D./Ph.D. Program in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago.

Dr. Field is conducting a study of CCSVI in MS using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. If Dr. Field’s technique obtains similar results as the study originally published by Dr. Zamboni, it would represent a powerful confirmation of the CCSVI hypothesis.

John Fleming, M.D. – University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr. John Fleming is a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and the director of the MS Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. Dr. Fleming  went to medical school at State University of New York. He completed an internship at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, his Residency at Northshore University Hospital and Cornell University and his Fellowship at the University of Southern California. He currently serves on the Wisconsin Chapter’s Clinical Advisory Committee.

Dr. Fleming is studying the ingestion of worm eggs to change the immune response in patients with MS, based on the “hygiene hypothesis,” which suggest that developed countries have high incidences of autoimmune disease because there is little exposure to parasites and other infections.
 

Colleen Hayes, Ph.D. – University of Wisconsin-Madison
Colleen Hayes is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed her undergraduate studies at DePauw University and earned her doctorate at the University of Michigan.

Hayes is researching vitamin D’s role in MS. Hayes is studying how vitamin D and calcitriol, the hormone form of vitamin D, may be used to prevent and treat EAE, an MS-like disease in mice. Hayes and her colleagues are also investigating the interaction between vitamin D and estrogen and the role it may play in controlling MS-like immune attacks.

Alexander Ng, Ph.D., F.A.C.S.M. - Marquette University
Alexander Ng is an associate professor in the Exercise Science Program at Marquette University. He completed his undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences at the University of California-Davis and earned Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Ng research focuses on symptomatic fatigue in chronic disease with an emphasis on multiple sclerosis and cancer survivors.

Julie Olson, Ph.D. - University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Olson is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed her doctorate in microbiology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and her postdoctoral fellowship in microbiology-immunology at Northwestern University.

Dr. Olson studies microglia, cells within the brain and spinal cord that participate in the immune attack in MS. Dr. Olson is investigating a molecule called “NHE-1” in microglia that may increase the immune attack in MS. She is investigating the role of NHE-1 in activating the microglia in an MS-like disease in mice and how inhibiting NHE-1 may reduce the activation of the microglia. The results from these studies may lead to the development of new treatments for MS based on inhibiting NHE-1.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"News" articles are derived from research releases made by the National MS Society"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Current Reseach News -- Links

MS Trial Alert: Recruitment for Study of Plovamer Acetate vs. Copaxone in Relapsing-Remitting MS	Feb 12, 2014
MS Trial Alert: Researchers in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania Recruiting Women with Progressive or Relapsing MS for Study of Estriol to Improve Cognition	Feb 12, 2014
Study Links Volume Changes in a Part of the Brain with a Specific Type of Depression in Women with MS	Feb 11, 2014
Australian Team Reports on Use of Novel Therapy against Epstein-Barr Virus To Treat One Person’s MS	Feb 10, 2014
Researchers Recruiting African Americans with MS and Family Members Across the U.S. for Genetics Studies – Key to finding cause of MS and better treatments	Feb 03, 2014
Researchers Identify Toxin That They Suggest May Be a Trigger for MS: Studies Proceed with Society Funding	Jan 31, 2014
FDA Approves New Dose of Copaxone To Be Taken Less Frequently	Jan 30, 2014
New Study Reports on MS and Lifespan in the United States	Jan 30, 2014
Repair News: Society-funded Researchers Pinpoint a Crucial Molecule in the Nervous System with an Eye Toward Enhancing Nervous System Repair in MS	Jan 28, 2014
FDA Denies Approval for Lemtrada™ (alemtuzumab) for Relapsing MS	Jan 24, 2014
Low Vitamin D Levels Early in MS May Predict Disease Activity and Progression, Suggests New National MS Society-Funded Study	Jan 23, 2014
National MS Society Mourns Passing of Renowned MS Researcher and Society Advisor Dr. Marie Filbin	Jan 18, 2014
Lifestyle News: Swedish Study Suggests that People Who Drink Alcohol Had Less Risk of Developing MS	Jan 13, 2014
Major Advancements Made in 2013 Toward Understanding and Treating MS	Dec 19, 2013
National MS Society and EMD Serono, Inc. Announce Recipients of Funding for MS Research	Dec 17, 2013
In Memory of Robert Buchanan, PhD: Innovative Researcher Who Improved Care and Created Options to Address Challenges Faced by People with MS	Dec 17, 2013
New Studies Look at Lifestyle Factors in Terms of Who Gets MS and Improving the Daily Lives of People with MS	Dec 05, 2013
Trial hints that a vaccine used to prevent tuberculosis may open a new treatment approach to preventing or treating MS	Dec 04, 2013
Trainees in MS Research and Clinical Care Connect at the 2013 Tykeson Fellows Conference	Dec 02, 2013
Study Provides Strong Evidence for Benefits of Cognitive Rehabilitation to Improve Learning and Memory in People with MS	Nov 25, 2013