John Booss, MD

Now retired (emeritus), my research and clinical work focused on viral infections, immune responses, and host viral interactions in the nervous system. Work from our laboratory has focused on the immune response in the nervous system in multiple sclerosis, a rodent model for cytomegalovirus encephalitis, and the host defense response in the brain to xenogenic allograft. Previous clinical work focused on viral encephalitis, multiple sclerosis, and HIV neurology.

Research also centered on the evaluation and treatment of neurological complications of HIV infection and the evaluation of immunotherapy in multiple sclerosis. We were part of a multi- institutional national consortium for neuro-AIDS research and were part of a VHA HSR&D study of the therapy of multiple sclerosis.

In retirement, I have focused on topics in historical virology, see To Catch A Virus, 1st ed. Booss and August, ASM Press, 2013; 2nd ed. Booss and Landry (with August), ASM Press, 2023. I am presently examining how epidemics have altered Native American History. These investigations have included the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians; Measles and the Whitman Tragedy; and Smallpox and the Turning Point of the French and Indian War. See Biography section for the citations.

Health Systems: As National Director for Neurology for the Department of Veterans Affairs, I was interested in the development of national systems of subspecialty care. Six Parkinson's Disease Centers (PADRECC's) and two MS Centers of Excellence (MS-CEs) were organized to provide clinical care, education and to encourage research in the VA on a national scale. I proposed VA Epilepsy Centers of Excellence, which the Congress passed soon after my retirement. An ALS Registry in VHA was developed as a vehicle to facilitate cooperation between the VA, the NIH, and the ALS Association to advance the understanding, treatment and research into this lethal neurodegenerative disease.