Twenty years ago, Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D. founded the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, now the NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies, at the University of Michigan. Through her career the renowned neurologist and neuroscientist has been a catalyst for understanding and developing new treatments for neurological disease through multidisciplinary collaboration that has evolved into the NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies.
The Russel N. DeJong Professor of Neurology, Dr. Feldman has over 30 years of continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as she has pioneered studies on neurological disorders in metabolic diseases. Her work identified dyslipidemia during obesity and diabetes as a driver of brain and nerve damage in children and adults, influencing new patient care guidelines. She currently leads three multi-institutional NIH grants aimed at understanding how lipids cause nervous system injury and directs a research lab of 30 scientists.
A principal investigator on the first two FDA-approved stem cell transplant clinical trials for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Dr. Feldman is now funded by the NIH to move this therapy forward for Alzheimer’s disease. She is also supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for her groundbreaking work on identifying environmental pollutants as a contributing cause of ALS.
Dr. Feldman was the inaugural director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at U-M. She served as president of the American Neurological Association from 2011-13, the third woman to hold this position in 130 years. In 2020, she will chair the neurology and psychiatry membership section of the National Academy of Medicine. She has received lifetime achievement awards from the American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Endocrine Society, and Society for Neuroscience. In 2016, Dr. Feldman was honored as the National Physician of the Year for Clinical Excellence by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., and has been named by her peers as one of the Best Doctors in America for 15 consecutive years.
Dr. Feldman earned her medical and doctoral degrees at U-M and completed neurology training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She joined the Michigan Medicine faculty in 1988.
The official news source of the American Academy of Neurology notes Drs. Feldman and Goutman's JAMA Neurology article in discussing the argument that establishing a national reportable
An article, "Eva Feldman: Good Doctor," was part of SEEN Magazine's 2020 Women's Issue.
In 2019, our laboratory made discoveries in diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and ALS, which resulted in 21 scientific manuscripts. 2020 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery.
Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. In the United States, over 30 million people have diabetes, while another 85 million have prediabetes. These numbers are projected to increase at the rate of 5% per year. At this pace, more than one in three Americans born after 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
The University of Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) honored Dr. Eva Feldman for her legacy of fostering the intellectual, creative, scholarly and professional growth of their students, fellows and trainees in the areas of clinical and translational health and research.