Erin Longbrake, MD, PhD

Dr. Longbrake is an associate professor in the Department of Neurology. She graduated summa cum laude from Cedarville University in 1998, then earned combined MD/PhD degrees at the Ohio State University. Her dissertation research focused on the neuro-immune response to traumatic spinal cord injuries. Dr. Longbrake then completed her neurology residency at Washington University in St. Louis. From 2013-2016, Dr. Longbrake was a Sylvia Lawry fellow of the National MS Society. During her fellowship, she was involved in numerous MS clinical trials and focused her research on better understanding the effects of modern MS disease modifying drugs. Dr. Longbrake is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Society and the American Academy of Neurology. She joined the Yale faculty in 2016. At Yale, she is Director of Clinical Research in the Neuroimmunology division, designing and implementing numerous clinical trials and other human research studies. She is also the Program Director for the Neuroimmunology Fellowship at Yale.

Dr. Longbrake's research focuses on working towards personalizing management strategies for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and detecting the disease at the earliest physiologic signs of damage, before clinical symptoms develop. MS is a heterogeneous disease which at times causes minimal disability and at other times is neurologically devastating within years, despite appropriate treatment. By the time the first symptoms emerge, the disease has already caused permanent neurologic damage. No predictive algorithms or biomarkers currently exist to detect pre-clinical disease or to stratify risk and guide treatment decisions at the time of diagnosis. Dr. Longbrake's current work focuses on early-stage MS and identifying the earliest immunologic and radiologic changes associated with disease. One area of particular interest is the microbiome/metabolome and how it relates to the immune system and MS clinical course. Dr. Longbrake has extensive experience in designing/implementing clinical trials, both investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored.