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Top stroke researcher recruited to
MUSC
One of the country’s leading researchers in the field of
neurodegeneration will lead the $25 million clinical trial on stroke
prevention center at MUSC.
The Neuroscience endowed chair, Marc Chimowitz, M.D., will lead
research targeting age-related problems including dementia, Alzheimer’s
disease, Parkinson’s disease and stroke.
“Dr. Chimowitz is a highly honored researcher who will be an integral
part of training a new generation of clinical neuroscientists,” said
John Raymond, M.D., MUSC provost and vice president for academic
affairs. “We are enthusiastic about the contributions to MUSC
Excellence that he will make in regard to research, education and
clinical care.”
The highly touted recruit by the S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence
(CoEE), Chimowitz formerly served as associate neurology professor at
Emory University where he completed a $14 million clinical trial to
determine the effectiveness of warfarin versus aspirin for preventing
stroke in patients with narrowed brain arteries. Prior to Emory, he was
assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan. He
completed a neurology residency at Tufts University as well as a
cerebrovascular fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and a research
fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his medical
degree from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Chimowitz is the recipient of a Career Investigator Award from the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for his
mentoring of junior faculty members toward clinical research careers.
At MUSC, the neurological research he will lead includes a clinical
trial funded by the National Institutes of Health that is among the
largest extramural research grants in South Carolina history. The study
will involve patients at more than 50 sites across the country.
Chimowitz and his colleagues will examine the value of using stents to
prevent strokes in patients whose brain arteries have hardened and
narrowed due to plaque buildup (atherosclerotic stenosis).
“In Dr. Chimowitz, the CoEE Program has recruited one of the country’s
foremost researchers in clinical stroke research,” said Paula Harper
Bethea, who chairs the CoEE Review Board. “He already has brought
substantial research dollars to the state, and in time his work could
affect the lives of countless South Carolinians and people around the
world who are at risk of stroke.”
Stroke research is especially relevant in South Carolina, which has the
nation’s second-highest mortality rate in stroke, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This area of research also
is significant for South Carolina due to a projected boom in its
population of those 65 years and older from 12 percent in 2000 to 22
percent by 2030, according to U.S. Census Bureau.
The CoEE is a component of MUSC’s Neuroscience Institute and also works
in collaboration with the MUSC Center on Aging. The CoEE has partnered
with Cure Parkinson’s Project, a non-profit corporation devoted to
curing Parkinson’s disease; and has also supported the creation of
SemiAlloGen Inc., a biotechnology company that develops therapeutics in
the field of neurodegenerative disorders and cancer.
MUSC’s Stroke Center is considered among the best in the country with a
prestigious team of accomplished clinicians and researchers.
Friday, May 2, 2008
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