Eva Feldman

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Eva L. Feldman (b. New York City) is the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and also one of its foremost biomedical investigators. She received an undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry from Earlham College, after which she undertook a Masters in Zoology at the University of Notre Dame. She pursued her Ph.D. training in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, subsequently studying medicine at the University of Michigan School of Medicine from which she earned her M.D. Feldman completed her residency in neurology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she served as chief resident. Also notable, she was the first neurologist to receive the Johns Hopkins Award for Medical Teaching and Excellence.

In 2007, Feldman helped found the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan, with $22 million in funding from Alfred Taubman^[1], the philanthropist and shopping mall magnate. Feldman is the Director of the Institute, which seeks to support innovative, “high risk-high reward” research, which traditional funding sources tend to shy away from. So far, the Institute has provided funding to five Taubman Scholars at the University of Michigan, including Feldman, who are examining a variety of diseases, including childhood and adult cancers, ALS, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hearing loss.

Feldman's research focuses primarily on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with two disorders: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the neurological complications of diabetes. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health for her work on understanding the mechanisms underlying diabetic neuropathy and is the author of more than 150 articles and book chapters. Much of her work focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of ALS; she introduced the idea that a certain form of cell death known as apoptosis may underlie the nervous system destruction salient in ALS, as well as those neurological complications arising from diabetes. Dr. Feldman is also an expert on the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic neuropathy. She and her colleagues at the University of Michigan developed a clinical screening instrument for the rapid diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy that is used throughout the world.[1] Dr. Feldman currently directs a Neuropathy Clinic and is listed in the Best Doctors of America. She was elected Vice President of the American Neurological Association and President of the Peripheral Nerve Society.

Feldman and her colleagues focus on the development of both sensory and autonomic neuropathy. Diabetic sensory neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes and results in loss of sensation in the extremities. The autonomic, or involuntary, nervous system regulates the function of the internal organs including the digestive system and the cardiovascular system, i.e., the heart and blood vessels. Loss of innervation to the heart may lead to sudden cardiac death. Dr. Feldman has demonstrated that oxidative stress is especially damaging to neurons and is examining the use of antioxidant compounds on neurons in culture and in diabetic animals.

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