Organizational Leadership

Jeffrey D. Rothstein, MD, PhD

Director, Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins

Packard Center founder Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein has been the Center’s director since it opened in 2001. A respected neuroscientist, Rothstein is credited as being one of the world’s top ALS researchers, especially in the field of glutamate excitotoxicity. He is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute, a campus-wide collaborative organization that brings together Hopkins' more than 450  basic and clinical neuroscientists.  Among its many missions, the Brain Science Institute's translational neuroscience program brings an innovative collaboration with industry and academic medicine in order to hasten treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.  He is Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and a faculty member of the graduate program in cellular and molecular medicine at the Johns Hopkins University. He directs the Johns Hopkins Multidisciplinary ALS Clinic, one of the largest organizations of its kind in this country.

To reach Dr. Rothstein, contact:

Denise Tawney
Administrative Assistant to Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein
T: (410) 955-2227 | F: (410) 502-5459
dtawney1@jhmi.edu

Piera Pasinelli, PhD

Science Director, Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins

Acknowledged as an expert in the cell death processes that overtake the central nervous system in ALS, Pasinelli was named in 2008 as the Center’s first science director. She is on the faculty and heads a laboratory in the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Pasinelli’s background in neurobiochemistry and her familiarity with the pharmaceutical industry and drug design put her in an ideal position directing Packard’s grant program. Under her watchful eye, ALS research projects stay on mission or are dismissed.

To reach Dr. Pasinelli, contact:

T: (215) 955-8394 | F: (215) 503-9128
piera.pasinelli@jefferson.edu