Tanuja Chitnis, M.D. (Senior Mentor TWIN 1)

Professor Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Director of the Mass General Brigham Pediatric MS Center

Founder and Director of the Translational Neuroimmunology Research Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Cindy Larsen Chugg Distinguished Chair in Neurology, and Vice Chair of Clinical Neuroscience Research at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Massachusetts General Brigham

Dr. Tanuja Chitnis is a board-certified neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis (MS) with a dual appointment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and has a research appointment as a Senior Scientist within the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH where she created the Translational Neuroimmunology Research Center. In addition, she serves as the Medical Director of the CLIMB Natural History of MS study at the Partners MS Center, which is located within the Neurosciences Center at BWH. CLIMB follows over 2400 MS patients longitudinally. Here she oversees a team of analysts and postdoctoral fellows working to understand the causes, heterogeneity and response to treatment in MS patients, including immune mechanisms, sex differences and the effects of hormones on MS risk and disease course. Her interest in children with MS led her to start the Partners Pediatric MS Center at MassGeneral Hospital for Children where she serves as the Director. Here, Dr. Chitnis is leading several studies to understand the causes of MS in children. Between 2010-2018, she served as the elected Chair of the International Pediatric MS Study Group, where she has led several initiatives in the study of MS in children including the launch of the first clinical trials in this population.

She has authored over 200 publications and reviews related to MS and demyelinating disorders, and serves on the advisory board and steering committee of several MS-related organizations and studies. Throughout her career, her primary scientific contributions have been in immune mechanisms in MS, sex differences in autoimmune disorders, pediatric MS research and clinical trials, the CLIMB observational cohort study, and Neuromyelitis Optica spectrum disorders (NMO-SD).

Learn more about the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center: www.mscenter.partners.org

More information on Dr Chitnis Lab