Eva Feldman

Early life and education

Having grown up in Indiana, Feldman completed her undergraduate degree at Earlham College and was introduced to medical research early in her college career. She earned an M.S. in Zoology from the University of Notre Dame, then received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience (1983) at the University of Michigan in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Agranoff and also attended the U-M Medical School. She performed her residency in neurology (1988) at The Johns Hopkins Hospital where she served as chief resident and the first neurologist to receive The Johns Hopkins Award for Medical Teaching and Excellence. She returned to the University of Michigan to complete a fellowship in neuromuscular disorders and has remained on faculty ever since.

Career

Feldman has made important contributions to medical research and clinical care in many critical areas, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and complications in diabetes. She developed a clinical screening instrument for the rapid diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy, which is currently being used worldwide. Currently, she is conducting the first human clinical trial of a stem cell therapy for ALS.

In January 2008, Feldman was named the first director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, which was created to support fundamental research into a wide range of human diseases. Under her leadership, the Taubman Institute funds senior-level scientists in a diverse spectrum of diseases: adult and childhood cancer, ALS, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hearing loss.

In the fall of 2008, Feldman and the Taubman Institute played an important role in educating Michigan citizens on the importance of stem cell research in the study and treatment of disease. In the November election, voters approved a constitutional amendment lifting restrictions on stem cell research in the state. As a result of the election, the Taubman Institute opened the first core facilities in the Michigan dedicated to the derivation of embryonic stem cell lines and one of the few in the nation. In her own work, Feldman is considered a pioneer in the application of stem cell technology to human disease, most notably the ongoing ALS clinical trial, in which stem cells are implanted in the spinal cords of patients with the disease. She has also begun the work of adapting this treatment to patients with Alzheimer's disease.

In addition to running an active clinical practice at the University of Michigan, Feldman is the director of the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, a team of 30 scientists who collaborate on the study of a wide variety of neurological diseases, including ALS, diabetic neuropathy, and Alzheimer’s disease. She is also the research director of the U-M ALS Clinic.

Feldman is the author of more than 375 articles, 69 book chapters and 4 books. She is the Principal Investigator or co-PI of 13 major National Institutes of Health research grants, one CDC/ATSDR project, one private foundation grants and 5 clinical trials focused on understanding and treating neurological disorders, with an emphasis on ALS and diabetic neuropathy. She is Past President of the American Neurological Association and Past President of the Peripheral Nerve Society. She was recently chair of the Complications Council of the American Diabetes Association and served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

She serves on numerous editorial boards and she is the Neurology Consultant to the Epidemiology of Diabetes Intervention and Complications Trial (EDIC) for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Feldman has received many honors, including induction in the National Academy of Medicine, and has earned the Early Distinguished Career Award and the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan, several scientific achievement awards in the field of diabetes and election to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. Additionally, she has been listed in Best Doctors in America for more than 20 consecutive years.

Among Dr. Feldman’s greatest accomplishments is her training of both scientists and neurologists. Nine scientists have received their Ph.D. degrees under her, she has trained more than 40 postdoctoral fellows in her laboratory to become neuroscientists, and 50 neurologists have trained under her to specialize in the understanding and treatment of neuromuscular diseases, with an emphasis on ALS.