Penn Medicine, Philadelphia Experts Recognised at American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting

Virginia M.Y. Lee, PhD, the John H. Ware 3rd Professor in Alzheimer’s Research in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Roy H. Hamilton, MD, MS, a professor of Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and director of the brainSTIM Center, both from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania were recognized for their achievements by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Boston.

Lee received the Sheila Essey Award for her research contributions in the search for the cause, prevention of, and cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition to her research of the brain and the mechanisms that cause it to fail, Lee is also recognized for her long track record of mentoring the next generation of researchers. Together with her late husband, John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, a professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn, Lee discovered abnormal clumping of DNA binding protein TDP-43, and its role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS. She demonstrated that cell-to-cell transmission of these pathological proteins explains how each disease progresses.

This research has opened up new avenues of research to identify targets for drug discovery to develop better treatments for patients with these disorders. Key to the discoveries Lee made with Trojanowski was their establishment of a brain bank, which stored brains from patients with neurodegenerative diseases, as well as from people without them, allowing for the comparison between the sets to determine which proteins were involved in the diseases and what brain regions were affected.

Hamilton received the AAN Changemaker Award for his tremendous dedication to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the department of Neurology at Penn Medicine. As Vice Chair for Inclusion and Diversity, Hamilton developed Penn Neurology’s Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity (IDARE) Program, which advocates for individuals in all departmental roles. IDARE programs include initiatives to enhance recruitment efforts, staff clinics in underserved communities, partner with Black community leaders and organizations, and ensure institutional policies create fairer departmental working conditions.

Hamilton’s work with IDARE also aims to expand existing pipeline programs to bring neuroscience to underserved groups through mentorship and enrichment programs, such as the Neuroscience Pipeline Program, the Penn Memory Center (PMC) Minority Scholars in Aging Research program for medical students, and the PMC Aging Summer Research Internship for regional African American undergraduate students. These programs were all spearheaded by Hamilton and have engaged thousands of students.