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Our People

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Scientific Advisors

Krystof Bankiewicz, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neurological Surgery

Krystof Bankiewicz, M.D., Ph.D, Professor of Neurological Surgery, is a leader in the area of restorative interventions, specifically drug delivery and gene transfer, in models of Parkinson's disease and brain tumors. He has created a world class laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco, focusing on the delivery of therapeutic agents into the central nervous system through automated cell-implantation, convection-enhanced and gene transfer-based delivery methods, as well as in vivo applications of MRI and PET to detect in-vivo changes in brain and their correlation with functional outcome. He holds several patents, including those for use of neuro-derived fetal cell lines for transplantation therapy, convection-enhanced delivery of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, and CED of AAV viral vector with AADC for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Martha C. Bohn, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry

Martha Churchill Bohn, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University and is Director of the Neurobiology Program at Children's Memorial Research Center (CMRC). Dr. Bohn serves on the editorial boards for Experimental Neurology, and Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology and has served as President for the American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair. She served from 2001-2005 as a member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. Dr. Bohn's research is focused on understanding development of the brain and generating novel therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Bohn recently established a viral vector translational resource center to facilitate the translation of basic science to the clinic in the field of gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and injuries to the nervous system.

Howard J. Federoff, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Dean, Georgetown University School of Medicine
Executive Vice-President, Georgetown University Medical Center

Howard J. Federoff, M.D, Ph.D. is Executive Dean, Georgetown University School of Medicine as well as Executive Vice President, Georgetown University Medical Center. Prior to this appointment, he was Professor of Neurology, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Oncology and Genetics and the Director, Center for Aging and Developmental Biology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Federoff formed and leads the US national consortium "The Parkinson's Disease Gene Therapy Study Group" whose mission is to establish a rigorous basis for moving novel gene therapeutics from preclinical studies to clinical trials. He serves on four editorial boards, has chaired NIH Study Section BDCN 3, was a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of NIDCR and currently serves on the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and Steering Committee for the NINDS Spinal Muscular Atrophy drug development project. He has published greater than 150 articles, reviews and editorials and is an inventor on a number of patents.

Steven S Gill, M.D.
Consultant Neurosurgeon

Steven Gill was appointed as a Consultant Neurosurgeon at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol in 1993 having trained predominantly at the National Hospital, Queens Square, London. He has wide-ranging clinical and academic interests with contributions in the field of oncology, including, the invention of a relocatable stereotactic frame for fractionated radiotherapy (GTC Frame) and is currently developing novel techniques for convection enhanced delivery of chemotherapy to the brain. In the field of Functional Neurosurgery, he has pioneered Deep Brain Stimulation of the Zona Incerta to treat Parkinson's disease and all forms of tremor and stimulation of the pedunculo pontine nucleus to treat gait disorders. He carried out the first clinical trial of infusing a neurotrophin, GDNF, into the striatum and demonstrated reversal of PD with induction of neural regeneration. In the field of spinal surgery his particular interest is cervical arthroplasty which he has been carrying out since 1994 and is the inventor of the Prestige cervical joint.

Sandeep Kunwar, M.D.
Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery

Sandeep Kunwar, M.D. is Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, a Principal Investigator in the Brain Tumor Research Center and Co-Director of the UCSF Pituitary Treatment Center.  He is a clinical neurosurgeon focused on the management of brain and spinal cord tumors and has translated novel therapeutics from the laboratory to the clinic. Dr. Kunwar is a world leader in the application of Convection Enhanced Delivery to patient care and currently serves as the lead principal investigator for a number of international multi-institutional CED clinical trials, including the largest Phase III study of CED for the treatment of brain tumors. He has educated and initiated top academic sites in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan in the application of CED. Dr. Kunwar is a pioneer in the clinical development of CED and helped develop new software and tools to advance the field with leaders in the industry.

Michael A. Rogawski, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology,
University of California, Davis

Dr. Rogawski is professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of California, Davis where he leads a multidisciplinary research team focused on therapeutic strategies for epilepsy. Until January 2007, he was senior investigator and chief of the Epilepsy Research Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Rogawski received his B.A. from Amherst College, and M.D. and Ph.D. (pharmacology) from Yale University. He trained in neurology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Rogawski has received the Epilepsy Research Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the NINDS Merit Award, the NIH Director’s Award, and the Certificate of Appreciation from the American Epilepsy Society. Dr. Rogawski has served on many editorial boards, and is an executive editor of Neuropharmacology and associate editor and co-founder of Epilepsy Currents. Recently, Dr. Rogawski assumed associate editorship of Neurotherapeutics, the journal of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics. Dr. Rogawski was also a member of the scientific advisory board of CURE – Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy. He has served as a member and chair of scientific review panels for NIH and the Office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.

Page last updated: 29 June 2010