David H. Rowitch
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced today that David H. Rowitch, MD, PhD, a professor in the departments of neurological surgery and pediatrics in the UCSF School of Medicine, has been selected as one of only 15 new HHMI patient-oriented research investigators in the nation, in support of his efforts to establish a translational research program focused on the study and treatment of newborn infants with neurological injuries.
Rowitch, 48, who also is chief of the division of neonatology at UCSF Children's Hospital and a researcher in the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine (IRM), was selected for the honor from among 242 applicants from throughout the United States. He is one of only two HHMI investigators from California and the only one from Northern California.
"David Rowitch is an outstanding translational scientist," David A. Kessler, MD, dean, UCSF School of Medicine, said of Rowitch's selection. "His innovative approach to neonatal research will lead to new discoveries and ultimately more effective ways to address the perils of premature birth."
The investigators were selected for the honor through a competitive process that, according to the Institute, "underscores HHMI's commitment to ensuring that basic research discoveries are translated into improved treatments for patients." "These physician-scientists spend their professional lives crossing the boundaries between the laboratory bench and the bedside, convinced that patient care informs and enhances their research," Institute representatives stated in announcing the selection.
Investigators continue to be based at their host institutions once selected but become HHMI employees and derive their entire salaries and benefits from the Institute. The collaboration agreement also provides for payment to the host institution for a researcher's laboratory space. Investigators retain their faculty positions and continue to participate in teaching and other professional activities at their university or research institute. Their research groups, which typically include 10 to 25 students, postdoctoral associates, and technicians, some of whom are HHMI employees, are supported by HHMI field staff throughout the country.
Seeking a Better Understanding of Cerebral Palsy
Rowitch's selection will support his efforts to work toward a better understanding of the origin and treatment of cerebral palsy, a poorly understood condition that affects more than 800,000 people in the United States. In addition to the obvious devastation of patient quality of life, the problem has an estimated financial impact on our health care system of $35 billion a year.
Each year, 80,000 infants are born very prematurely, at 24 to 26 weeks gestation. Advances in neonatology, including important work done at UCSF, have vastly improved these infants' chances of survival, largely through treatments to protect their hearts and lungs. But studies have shown that as many as 50 percent of these very premature infants will suffer from some form of neurological complication, ranging from severe bleeding to more ephemeral assaults on the white matter tracts.
Such damage can result in mild to severe motor impairments, including cerebral palsy, and behavioral and cognitive impairments, including mental retardation. Today, neurological complications among very young premature infants are the leading cause of mental retardation nationwide. There is virtually nothing that medicine can offer to prevent these complications from occurring or to reverse the resultant damage.
Cellular Development in the Brain and Response to Brain Injury
The Rowitch Laboratory in the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine (IRM) investigates key genetic factors that determine cellular development in the brain and the response to injury. Rowitch has focused on cells called oligodendrocytes that provide myelin (an insulating substance for nerve processes) and how their development is governed by two important genes, Olig1 and Olig2. Oligodendrocytes are among the cells most affected in premature infant brain injury. Rowitch's research also examines overlap between mechanisms in brain development and other neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis and brain cancer.
"We're very pleased that David Rowitch has been honored with the HHMI investigator award," said Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine (IRM). "He's an extremely talented physician-scientist whose commitment to carrying out stem cell research with an eye toward translating discoveries into new treatment strategies represents the best of medicine."
"His research is helping to illuminate the possible role of altered stem cells in causing diseases such as cancer, but also their potential use for creating healthy brain cells to treat neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. He has been a great addition to our program," Kriegstein said.
Mitchel S. Berger, MD, professor and chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery and director of the UCSF Brain Tumor Research Center, said Rowitch is poised to make significant discoveries in the field of cerebral palsy and congratulated him on his selection.
"David Rowitch is one of a rare breed of translational neuroscientists with a strong clinical background as a neonatologist, who is well poised to make significant discoveries in the area of cerebral palsy. He has a tremendous understanding as to how the brain repairs itself, along with using neural stem cells as a mechanism to restore defective or depleted neurons."
Rowitch's Vision for the Future of Treatment for Premature Infants
The HHMI selection will help Rowitch advance plans to establish a unique program at UCSF where newly discovered information about the developing brain and nervous system can be applied rapidly advanced to provide new treatments for these tiny patients.
Rowitch says he envisions a future in which neuroprotective drugs will become the standard of treatment for premature infants. With colleagues Donna Ferriero, MD, chief of pediatric neurology, A. James Barkovich, MD, chief of pediatric neuroradiology, and others, he is moving forward with plans to create a neurological intensive care unit - a specialized unit that would be the first of its kind in the nation - for tiny babies with neurological complications to closely monitor their development.
"David Rowitch is an outstanding physician-scientist with a vision and program to transform our approach to the prevention and treatment of neonatal brain injury," said Sam Hawgood, MD, professor and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics.
"Recognition of his work by HHMI is an important step toward realizing his vision an enabling him and his colleagues to advance his program rapidly. His appointment as a HHMI scholar is a great honor for the Department of Pediatrics and will be a further catalyst in the development of our translational research programs to advance children's health worldwide."
"This is obviously a major achievement for Dr. Rowitch. HHMI, by bestowing this award, is recognizing the need for high impact research on brain injury and development," Donna Ferreiro, MD, said.
"In approaching the disease as one of disordered production of myelin, rather than disordered production of the oligodendrocyte lineage, Dr. Rowitch will bring a new way of thinking that is revolutionary, and can capitalize on the growing body of knowledge accumulating for disorders of myelin, such as the demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis, and the demyelinating diseases or leukodystrophies, such as Pelizaeus -Merzbacher disease," Ferreiro said of Rowitch's work. "This is a seminal observation and will, in my view, cause a sea change in the way that we understand the initiating lesions that underlay cerebral palsy."
"You really need to have a specialized clinical setting that doesn't yet exist in the field-we'll be the first in the nation," Rowitch said. "The hope is to do for the brain what we're already doing for the heart and lungs in neonates. What we're going to attempt is to change the standard of care for children at risk for neurological problems."
"The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has chosen wisely with this award," said Charles D. Stiles, PhD., a long-time collaborator and professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School and deputy director of the Mahoney Center for Neuro Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"It is a pleasure for me to offer my warmest congratulations to David," Stiles said. "Infants born prematurely with damage to the white matter of their brains have a strong new scientific warrior to fight on their behalf."
Related Links:
HHMI Adds 15 Patient-Oriented Researchers
HHMI News Release, October 11, 2007
Biographies of the 2007 HHMI Patient-Oriented Researchers: David H. Rowitch, MD, PhD
HHMI, October 11, 2007
Rising Rates of Premature Births Explored on KQED's QUEST
UCSF Today, July 25, 2007
Building a Neonatal Neurological ICU
UCSF Children's Hospital News for Physicians, Summer 2007
Envisioning a Neuro ICU for Preemies at UCSF
UCSF Today, July 11, 2006
