Professor Stephen Mark Strittmatter

Stephen Strittmatter obtained an A.B. in Biochemistry in 1980 from Harvard College, and received his M.D. and PhD. In Pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University in 1986. He completed his medical internship and neurology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined Yale University faculty in 1993, and currently holds the Vincent Coates Professorship of Neurology and is Professor of Neuroscience. He is a Founding Director of Yale Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair Program, Yale Alzheimer Disease Research Center, and Yale Memory Disorders Clinic.

Professor Strittmatter is the author of over 240 original reports. He has been recognized by several prestigious awards and honors, including: the Ameritec Award, John Merck Scholar Award, Donaghue Investigator Award, McKnight Brain and Memory Disorders Award, Alzheimer Association Zenith Fellow Award, Senator Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences, and an NINDS Outstanding Investigator Award. He is a member of several editorial boards and scientific societies.

Professor Strittmatter has made outstanding contributions to the field of neural repair, including the identification of a Nogo Receptor pathway that plays a central role in determining the ability of axons to extend and reconnect after injury. He showed that glia-derived inhibitors bind axonal Nogo Receptor to activate RhoA and prevent neural plasticity, sprouting, regeneration, and recovery. His work revealed that soluble Nogo Receptor decoy therapy promotes recovery in preclinical spinal cord trauma and ischemic stroke, and led to clinical trials in chronic spinal cord injury.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.