Neuroimmunology

Neuroimmunology, the latest volume in the Contemporary Neurology Series, provides a practical, clinical, and scientific background on a diverse group of neurological disorders in this rapidly expanding field. The book includes chapters on multiple sclerosis and related disorders in adults and children, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy and variants, immune-mediated disorders of the neuromuscular junction, inflammatory myopathies, paraneoplastic disorders and autoimmune encephalitities, and neurologic manifestations of systemic immune-mediated diseases. Unique to the work, the authors have included an introductory chapter on the basics of immunology and another on mechanisms of action of therapies used in neuroimmunologic disorders. The clinical chapters cover epidemiology, pathology, pathogenesis, and pathophysiology of the different diseases along with clinical presentation, diagnostic testing, differential diagnosis, and treatment. All are presented in an accessible, practical format, making this volume a valuable resource for physicians and other healthcare providers that will care for persons with neuroimmunologic diseases.

Dr. Bibiana Bielekova is the Chief of the Neuroimmunological Diseases Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She graduated from the Comenius University School of Medicine in Bratislava, Slovakia and undertook her neurology residency at the Boston University and neuroimmunology fellowship at the Neuroimmunology Branch of the NIH. She then became Associate professor of neurology with tenure and the Director of the Waddell Center for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at the University of Cincinnati and returned to the NIH in 2008. She performs investigator-initiated clinical trials in MS and her laboratory studies pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for central nervous system tissue destruction and reparative processes in neuroimmunological diseases.

Dr. Gary Birnbaum is a graduate of Hobart College and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He did his neurology residency at Cornell University School of Medicine with Drs. Fred Plum and Jerome Posner and his immunology fellowship with Dr. Gregory Siskind, also at Cornell University School of Medicine. Dr. Birnbaum left academia in 2000 to establish a large MS specialty clinic with Minneapolis Clinic of Neurology. He retired from clinical care in 2016 but continues to be active in MS-related issues, serving as a consultant and running a patient-oriented blog on research related to MS (msresearchupdate.com).

Dr. Robert P Lisak is Parker Webber Chair in Neurology, Professor of Neurology and Professor of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at Wayne State University and served as Chair of Neurology from 1987- 2012. Dr Lisak received his undergraduate degree from the College of Arts and Sciences of New York University and obtained his MD at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University. Dr Lisak's clinical and basic research interests have included myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis and related disorders, immune-mediated neuropathies, and myopathies as well as neurologic manifestations of systemic immune-mediated diseases. Dr Lisak served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Neurological Sciences from 1997-2013.