Merit Cudkowicz facts for kids

Merit Cudkowicz is an American doctor and brain scientist who studies a serious disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness and problems with movement.

Dr. Cudkowicz is a professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. She also leads the ALS clinic and the Neurological Clinical Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She is also in charge of the Neurology Department at MGH. Dr. Cudkowicz has led many big projects and studies to find new ways to treat ALS. As of 2020, she is looking for early signs of ALS to help doctors diagnose it sooner.

Early Life and Education

Merit Cudkowicz was born in Buffalo, New York. Her parents were both scientists who studied the body's defense system (immunology). Her father was a professor, and her mother was a research technician. From a young age, she knew she wanted to work in science.

She went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study engineering. She was interested in nuclear engineering at the time, so she chose chemical engineering as her main subject.

By the end of her studies at MIT, Dr. Cudkowicz decided she wanted to go to medical school. She stayed in Boston and earned her medical degree at Harvard Medical School. She joined a special program at Harvard that combined health sciences and technology. Here, she became very interested in how the brain works (neuroscience) and in helping patients. While at Harvard, she also earned a master's degree in how diseases spread and affect populations from the Harvard School of Public Health.

After medical school, Dr. Cudkowicz completed an internship at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. Then, she returned to Boston for her neurology training and fellowship at MGH. During her training, she became the chief resident in Neurology at MGH.

Career in ALS Research

During her training, Dr. Cudkowicz decided to focus on clinical research. This type of research tests new treatments in people. At that time, MGH did not have a strong program for clinical trials in neurology. So, Dr. Cudkowicz worked with others to help doctors get more involved in testing new brain treatments.

In 1994, she started the Neurology Clinical Trial Unit at MGH. This program has grown into the Neurological Clinical Research Institute (NCRI). She is the director of this program, which helps organize patient information for studies on brain disorders.

Dr. Cudkowicz also helped create the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) in 1995 with her partner Jeremy Shefner. The main goal of NEALS is to conduct team-based clinical trials for ALS. NEALS started with 9 medical centers and has now grown to almost 100 centers around the world. Dr. Cudkowicz is still a leader in NEALS and helps direct its Clinical Trials Network.

After her training, Dr. Cudkowicz became a professor at Harvard Medical School. She is now the Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. She is also the chief of the Neurology Service at MGH and co-director of the Neuromuscular Division at MGH. In 2019, she launched the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at MGH. Her research focuses on ALS, and she works on finding new ways to diagnose and treat patients. She also organizes large clinical trials to bring new treatments closer to people with ALS.

Dr. Cudkowicz is also a main researcher in the NeuroNEXT Clinical Coordinating Center at MGH. This center is part of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke's Neurology Network. She helps lead this group to speed up the development of treatments for brain disorders. Through this work, she started the first program to discover ALS treatments, called the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial. This trial will help speed up ALS research.

Testing New ALS Treatments

Scientists found that changes (mutations) in a gene called superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD-1) are linked to ALS. Dr. Cudkowicz worked with Robert Brown, who discovered this link. They wanted to find ways to target this gene in patients with ALS. Since certain changes in SOD-1 can cause ALS, Dr. Cudkowicz and her team explored if they could "silence" this gene.

They developed special molecules called SOD-1 antisense oligonucleotides. When given to rats, these molecules helped them live longer and improved muscle function. Dr. Cudkowicz and her team then started some of the first studies to give these molecules to ALS patients with SOD1 mutations.

Dr. Cudkowicz has also led studies for other potential ALS treatments. She has tested ceftriaxone, which helps reduce too much activity in brain cells. She is also leading a study to test Ezogabine, which works on potassium channels, to help control over-excitement in brain cells.

In 2019, Dr. Cudkowicz began testing if special cells from bone marrow, called mesenchymal stem cells, could treat ALS. The results have been promising and are helping to guide future studies for using these cells in ALS treatment.

Understanding Cells in ALS

To better understand how ALS develops, Dr. Cudkowicz has studied the role of different immune cells and glial cells (support cells in the brain). She found that giving certain immune cells (regulatory T cells) to ALS patients slowed down the disease's progress.

Dr. Cudkowicz has also looked at glial cells in ALS. Using special brain scans (PET imaging), she found that glial cells become very active in brain areas linked to movement control in ALS patients. Her findings supported other research showing that active glial cells are present in brain regions affected by ALS symptoms. She also found that the more active these glial cells were, the more severe the upper motor neuron problems were in ALS patients.

Awards and Honors

• 1998 – Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award
• 2009 – Sheila Essay ALS Award, American Academy of Neurology
• 2014 – Lou Gehrig Humanitarian Award
• 2017 – Forbes Norris Award from the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations
• 2018 – Achievement in the Professions Pinnacle Award
• 2019 – Ray Adams Award, American Neurological Association