Dr. Courtney Lane-Donovan: American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology

By James Beltran

Dr. Courtney Lane-Donovan
Dr. Courtney Lane-Donovan

Dr. Courtney Lane-Donovan was captain of her high school robotics team and a Girl Scout through her senior year – roles that exemplified her passion for science and desire to help others.

Her undergraduate years helped her transform those interests into a promising career in neurology.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the brain,” said Dr. Lane-Donovan, a Dallas native. “I wanted to learn more about how neurons communicate and, more importantly, how neuron function falls apart in neurodegenerative disease.”

In recognition of her work and enthusiasm for the field, Dr. Lane-Donovan was selected as the 2017 recipient of the American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology.

 “She has an infectious love for neuroscience,” said Dr. Mark Agostini, an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics who served as one of her mentors through Medical School. “She is destined not only to be a tremendous research neurologist, but a great physician.”

Dr. Agostini noted her potential as a skilled teacher and ability to work well with patients. He recalled an occasion when she was telling a patient about a possible stroke disorder, and how she simplified the explanation of a complicated molecular process into language the patient could easily understand.

“Beyond her stellar intellectual gifts, Courtney is one of the kindest and most compassionate medical students I have ever worked with,” Dr. Agostini said.

After graduating from Highland Park High School, Dr. Lane-Donovan studied biological engineering and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the course of her first week on campus, she met Adam Donovan, whom she has been married to for three years.

At MIT, Dr. Lane-Donovan was a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society and the Women’s Independent Living Group. During her undergrad studies she worked summers in laboratories in Paris and Barcelona.

Her fascination with the brain led her back to her hometown to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where she studied the molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease for her dissertation.

She worked extensively with Dr. Joachim Herz as a Medical Science Training Program student, recently compiling a published review addressing how a specific form of protein increases the risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

“She has an infectious, positive attitude, yet is unwavering in her critical assessment of her data and those of others in the field,” said Dr. Herz, Professor of Molecular Genetics, of Neuroscience, and of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics. “She embraced her focused thesis project, but soon transcended that limited problem set to include the very core questions that consume the field.”

The UT Southwestern Medical School chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society recently inducted Dr. Lane-Donovan among its newest 38 members. AOA members are selected based upon high academic standing, leadership among peers, professionalism, a firm sense of ethics, promise of future success in medicine, and a commitment to service in the school and community.

Dr. Lane-Donovan will serve her neurology residency at the University of California, San Francisco. She noted her husband, a software engineer, is excited about the move to Silicon Valley. And she’s excited about her career in neurology.

After UCSF, she hopes to serve a fellowship in behavioral neurology, and one day plans to run her own laboratory.

“Clinically, I love the diversity of neurological diseases, the ability to interact personally with patients, and the growing toolkit of treatments for neurological diseases – a toolkit to which I hope to add in the future,” Dr. Lane-Donovan said. 

Dr. Herz holds the Thomas O. and Cinda Hicks Family Distinguished Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease Research.