Elliot M. Frohman, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology
Director, MS Program and MS Clinical Center
Michael Racke, M.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology
Kathleen Hawker, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Amy Lovett-Racke, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Nancy Monson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Nitin Karandikar, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pathology and Neurology
The MS Program and Clinical Center at UT Southwestern is focused on three principal initiatives 1. Providing comprehensive interdisciplinary health care for patients and families with MS. 2. To engage in cutting edge basic and clinical research studies focused on characterizing the mechanisms that cause MS. We are also focused on the development of translational clinical drug trials bringing experimental agents or strategies from the laboratory bench to bedside. 3. We have developed a National MS education teaching initiative to enhance the scope of clinical capabilities for community based neurologists and neurology resident trainees in the management of chronic neurological illness. We focus on recognizing the central theme of interdisciplinary care models; specifically address the many facets of caring for the 'whole' patient with chronic illness and their families. A major thrust of the program is to emphasize the significance of preemptive and prevention treatment strategies that we believe to be germane to 'best practice' models of care for evolving health care systems. To date we have trained over 300 preceptor neurologists and neurology residents from 46 of the United States. This program has been underwritten by an appropriations bill, sponsored by the Congress and administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Faculty & Staff Composition:
The MS Program and Clinical Center encompasses patient care, teaching, and research programs. The clinical program includes 4 neurologists that are actively engaged in both patient care and research initiatives. We are currently in the process of recruiting another clinical MS neurologist who will be principally focused on patient care activities and clinical research projects. We employ two physician assistants (PA) who serve to facilitate the highest quality continuity of care for our patients. Our PAs work with the MS clinical faculty and also independently evaluate patients in their dedicated continuity of care clinics. A fulltime social worker (MSW II) dedicated to the MS Program is an important member of our care team. This individual has advanced credentialing as an Advanced Clinical Provider (ACP) which brings additional unique expertise and skill sets to our already formidable clinical capabilities. She is involved in coordination of care functions, education efforts, crisis intervention, and resource identification for our patient population. She is also involved in facilitating the processing of disability documents and works closely with patient assistance programs that are allied with the major pharmaceutical companies. Our clinical research program employs a fulltime nurse who is focused exclusively on therapeutic drug trials.
The research faculty include approximately 30 individuals at different levels of academic rank including associate and assistant professors, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduates and technicians. Collectively the MS Program now includes about 50 individuals dedicated to the various mission initiatives of the Center.
Clinical and Teaching Facilities:
The new MS Clinical Center is staffed with multiple administrative personnel, medical assistants, and a fulltime chemotherapy certified infusion nurse. The new clinic is comprised of 11 exam/consultation rooms, two MRI interpretation areas, a four-bed MS dedicated infusion clinic, and an ocular motor physiology laboratory. Additional services soon to be added include a bone densitometry analysis center, a bladder assessment lab. The new MS Clinical Center is the primary site for our ongoing National MS preceptorship training program, the UT Southwestern MS Comprehensive Treatment Training Program.
Research Facilities:
The MS neuroimmunology research apparatus receives overall direction from Dr. Michael Racke. The laboratory programs include a B-Cell laboratory headed by Dr. Nancy Monson; a T-Cell laboratory headed by Dr. Amy Lovett-Racke; an immunopathology laboratory headed by Dr. Nitin Karandikar. In addition to the cellular and molecular research programs focused on the neuroimmunology of MS, we have an ocular motor neurophysiology laboratory headed by Dr. Elliot Frohman and Teresa Frohman and an MS imaging effort headed by Dr. Roddy McColl. The various members of the MS research faculty actively collaborate with colleagues from around the United States and throughout the world.
Academic Achievements:
Members of the MS Program faculty have an extensive publication record that is ongoing. Our group continues to make progress in our understanding of MS. Increasingly UT Southwestern is being recognized for these contributions to the medical literature. MS Program faculty serve on National and International grant review boards and on assessment panels that construct policy for the American Academy of Neurology. For example, Dr. Frohman has served as a principal member of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Committee of the American Academy of Neurology for the last six years. He recently was the lead author on a position statement concerning the utility of MRI in the diagnosis of MS. For the last 150 years the diagnosis of MS was confirmed when a patient experienced multiple attacks of neurological dysfunction and when potentially mimicking conditions were excluded. The new guideline advanced by Dr. Frohman demonstrates that MRI evidence of disease activity at the time of the first neurological attack is strongly predictive of future disease activity and that the diagnosis in many such patients can be confirmed at the time of the patients first presentation with a neurological syndrome. This information represents a major paradigm shift that could have substantial implications for early treatment initiatives and a better disease course for our patients.
