The mission of Neuroimmunological Disease Section is to understand, diagnose, prognosticate and cure neuroimmunological diseases.
Neuroimmunological Disease Section, June 27, 2022: (left to right) Shinji Ashida, M.D., Ph.D., Darwing S. Padilla Rolon, B.Sc., Audrey S. Yee, M.D., Bibi Bielekova, M.D., Peter Kosa, Ph.D., Ruturaj R. Masvekar, Ph.D., Joanna Kocot, Ph.D., Deepthi Nammi, Ph.D. and Michelle Woodland
Bibi Bielekova, M.D.
Chief, Neuroimmunological Diseases Section
Education:
M.D., 1993, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Dr. Bielekova received an M.D. in 1993 from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. After a medical internship at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and a neurology residency at Boston University, she did a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the NINDS Neuroimmunology Branch (NIB). In 2018, Dr. Bielekova transferred as a senior investigator to NIAID. Her laboratory is studying mechanisms of immunoregulation and immune-mediated CNS tissue injury in MS and other neuroimmunological diseases with a long-term goal of developing effective therapies. In addition, Dr. Bielekova is a principal investigator on several innovative protocols including adaptively designed Phase I/II clinical trials.

Shinji Ashida, M.D., Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
M.D., Ph.D., Neurology
Languages Spoken: Japanese
He analyzes the human samples from patients with Multiple Sclerosis by using single cell RNA analysis and Flow cytometry technique.

Tiffany Hauser, MBA
Nurse Research Specialist
Education:
MBA, Project Management
B.S., Nursing
B.S., Biotechnology
Tiffany is a clinical regulatory nurse who engages in recruitment and retention of patients with CNS inflammatory disorders. She also focuses on protocol management, data collection, clinical outcomes, and regulatory guidance.
Marie B. Kanu-Jabbie, MSN, RN, NP-C, CNRN
Family Nurse Practitioner
Education:
MSN, Howard University
BSN, University of Maryland
Joanna Kocot, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Rocky Beth Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Medical Science
Languages Spoken: Polish

Peter Kosa, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Staff Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Languages Spoken: Slovak
Peter is Staff Scientist in the lab. His work focuses on data analysis and integration of clinical, imaging, genetic and biomarker data with the aim to identify and understand processes that play causal role in progression and severity of Multiple Sclerosis. He’s also a developer/manager of the NDS research database and helps to bridge the bench research with the clinical activities.

Ruturaj R. Masvekar, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
NDS Research Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Neuroscience
Languages Spoken: Marathi, Hindi

Deepthi Nammi, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Computational Drug Discovery
Languages Spoken: Telugu, Hindi
Deepthi Nammi is a postdoctoral visiting fellow in our lab and her major research interest is to understand the mechanisms of causal pathways and genes/proteins that participate in central nervous system (CNS) injury, especially multiple sclerosis (MS).

Darwing S. Padilla Rolon, B.Sc. (He/Him/His)
INRO Postbaccalaureate Trainee Fellow
Education:
B.Sc., Biology
Languages Spoken: Spanish
Darwing graduated with a B.Sc. in biology and a minor in multidisciplinary neuroscience from the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. He is a NIAID INRO postbaccalaureate trainee fellow in our lab focused on studying human neural-immune interactions by using iPSCs derived cerebral organoids as a research model.

Audrey S. Yee, M.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Staff Clinician
Education:
M.D., Neurology
Dr. Yee works on the validation of MS disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets in interventional clinical trials and longitudinal follow-up of patients on FDA-approved disease-modifying treatments.

Former Research Group Members
Alison Wichman, M.D.
Marie Sanford, CRNP