Title: The Eye As A Vertically Integrated Window Into Neurodegenerative Disease
Speakers: Dr. Elliot Frohman and Dr. Teresa Frohman
Date: April 9, 2021
Time: 1:00 pm (CST)
Abstract:
This talk shall underscore those principles which make the eye a unique window from which to interrogate mechanisms of disease, and to subsequently translate our understanding of the pathobiological underpinnings of neurodegenerative disorders into hypothesis-driven questions about neurotherapeutic treatment trials. Visual system biomarkers associated with pathophysiologic signatures of neurodegenerative disease, can also provide utility in order to detect and monitor neuroprotective, preventative, performance enhancing, and even restorative properties of novel treatment interventions. Utilizing the visual system, and a spectrum of stereotyped and eloquent syndromes, for purposes of both elucidating the molecular basis for disease pathology, as well as to demonstrate neurotherapeutic effects of novel agents, forms the basis of the characterization of the Eye as a vertically integrated window.
Objectives:
1. At the end of this presentation, participants will be informed about how established measures of visual system structure and function can be utilized in order to understand the pathobiological substrate of multiple sclerosis.
2. At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to appreciate the promise of the visual system to provide meaningful and reproducible readouts of both neuro and pathophysiology, and how such measures change over time, and in response to neurotherapeutic interventions.
3. At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to understand why the investigation of eye movement abnormalities in neurologic disease, provides for a powerful and productive scaffolding upon which discovery can be accelerated and translated into ‘precision CARE’ for the patients we serve.
Bios:
Elliot Frohman, MD, PhD, FANA, FAAN– Director‐ Dr. Frohman is the inaugural Director of the Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunology Center, at the new Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. He was the Founding Director (1995‐2016) of the MS and Neuroimmunology Program, and the Clinical Center for MS in the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Since his arrival at UT Southwestern in 1995, Elliot along with his wife and principal collaborator Teresa Frohman (they have co‐authored over 100 peer‐review manuscripts) built one of the largest and most significant MS centers anywhere.
Dr. Frohman was born in New York City and received his undergraduate training in biochemistry and cell biology at the University of California at San Diego, and later completed the Physician Scientist Training Program for his MD and PhD degrees at the University of California at Irvine. Dr. Frohman subsequently completed his residency and fellowship training in the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Hospital (1991‐1995), where he also served as Chief Resident from 1993‐1994.
Dr. Frohman has published over 300 peer‐review articles, book chapters and monographs, and serves as a principal investigator on a number of MS clinical trials. Dr. Frohman, in conjunction with his two closest research colleagues for more than 12 years, Dr. Peter Calabresi (Director, MS Program at Johns Hopkins) and Dr. Laura Balcer (Head of Neuro‐Ophthalmology and Vice Chair of Neurology at NYU), were awarded the 2015 National Multiple Sclerosis Society Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research. The ‘trio’ have been focused on the construct that the eye can be utilized as a ‘window’ into the central nervous system of neurodegenerative disorders for both elucidating mechanisms of disease, but also for the identification and monitoring of protective, performance enhancing, preventative, and even restorative properties of novel neurotherapeutic agents. In this way, the collaborative team envisions the eye as a vertically‐integrated window, ideally suited for dissecting mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders, and for the purpose of translation of such advanced insights into innovative treatments for our deserving patients; for MS in particular, but for neurodegenerative disorders in general.
In 2017, Dr. Frohman was among 16 worldwide elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars which recognizes former Johns Hopkins trainees who have made significant contributions to patient care, education and discovery at other institutions. Dr. Frohman and Teresa have four children and live in Austin Texas.
Teresa Frohman, PA– Managing Director, is currently the Lead Physician Assistant, Associate Professor of Neurology, and Managing Director of the MS and Neuroimmunology Center at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.
Teresa received her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of California at Irvine, and completed the Physician Assistant Program at UT
Southwestern Medical Center. Mrs. Frohman has published over 100 peer‐review articles, book chapters and monographs in the areas of neuroimmunology, brain imaging, neuro‐ophthalmology, neuro‐otology, and neuro‐urology, and is a principal investigator on a number of investigator‐ initiated MS clinical investigations focused on the utilization of the visual system as a model for understanding the central nervous system in MS. In 2000, Mrs. Frohman in collaboration with her husband Dr. Elliot Frohman authored a United States Congressional Bill, which was sponsored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R‐Texas), to establish a comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Training Program at the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, in collaboration with the National MS Society. To date, the Program has trained over 1,200 neurologists and neurology resident trainees from all 50 States and was expanded to include advanced training for nurses, social workers/case managers, and physician extenders in 2009. Under Mrs. Frohman’s leadership and mentorship, innumerable students, residents, fellows, faculty, community neurologists, nurses, social workers and physician extenders have chosen to pursue careers as MS clinicians and clinical investigators. Teresa and Elliot Frohman have four children, and live in Austin Texas.
