Volume 16, Number 4
Superman's Superman
John McDonald III, M.D., Ph.D., well-known in medical circles, in part because of his ties to the neurological gains made by the late Christopher Reeve, is now making East Baltimore his clinical and research home.
A neurologist/neuroscientist, McDonald heads the new center for spinal cord and paralysis recovery at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. He'll see children, teens and young adults with acute and chronic spinal injuries from trauma, birth defects or disease. It's a shift from the adult center he began at Washington University in St. Louis; the focus makes Baltimore unique, worldwide, in that specialty. Also, with anticipated
appointments in the departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, McDonald adds to the School of Medicine's surge in neuro-recovery research.
The superman bit in our headline plays on McDonald's clinical approach -- called activation-based restoration therapy -- that he developed for adults like Reeve with spinal cord injury. McDonald uses computer-linked stimulators, for example, to contract paralyzed patients' leg muscles enough to ride a stationary bike. By mimicking normal patterns of nerve activity below a patient's level of spinal injury, the technique works to stem physical decline such as muscle atrophy. It also gives back some function.
"Our focus," he says, "is to optimize the body's ability for self-repair."
McDonald's lab studies reveal a surprising capability for repair in the central nervous system, one where significant recovery is possible years after injury. From his KKI lab, he'll investigate the basic science of spinal injury and repair as a basis for treatment. Stem cells and shaping immune response will figure in. "Abandoning all hope," he says, "is no longer a given in treating catastrophic neurological injury."
For information, call 443-923-9210.