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    David Pitt, MD

    Associate Professor of Neurology
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    About

    Titles

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    Biography

    David Pitt is a clinician-scientist with a broad background in multiple sclerosis (MS) research. He provides clinical care at the Yale Multiple Sclerosis Clinic and serves as Co-Director of the National Multiple Sclerosis Brain Bank, an initiative by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He is a co-founder of an award-winning spin-out company.

    Dr. Pitt studied Medicine in Germany and completed postdoctoral research training with Cedric Raine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where he also completed his neurology residency and served as chief resident. He completed a fellowship in neuroimmunology at Washington University in St. Louis. before joining Yale University.

    The goal of his research is to develop an EV-based biomarker platform that captures activation states of different CNS cell types at high resolution and defines molecular pathologies of neurological disease in living patients.

    Dr. Pitt’s work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Myelin Repair Foundation, the Wieden Family Foundation and the Colton Foundation.

    Last Updated on September 21, 2026.

    Appointments

    • Neurology

      Associate Professor on Term
      Primary
      Neurology

    Other Departments & Organizations

    Education & Training

    Fellowship
    Washington University - St. Louis (2008)
    Residency
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2005)
    Internship
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2002)
    MD
    Philipps-Universitat Marburg, Medicine (1995)

    Research

    Overview

    Capturing CNS pathology through cell-specific extracellular vesicles (EVs)

    The Pitt Laboratory studies blood-derived, CNS cell-specific EVs as accessible indicators of molecular processes in the living brain. We profile EV cargo across multiple molecular layers and apply advanced computational approaches to extract biologically meaningful signals from complex data.

    We link EV-derived molecular signatures with clinical phenotypes, neuroimaging, and molecular analyses of human brain tissue. This work transforms circulating EV signals into insights into neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and the evolving biology of CNS disease, and thus generates biomarkers for diagnosis, patient stratification, therapeutic monitoring, and guidance for precision medicine for neurological diseases.

    Medical Research Interests

    Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System; Demyelinating Diseases; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Multiple Sclerosis; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Neurology

    Research at a Glance

    Yale Co-Authors

    Frequent collaborators of David Pitt's published research.

    Publications

    2025

    2024

    2023

    2022

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    Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

    Activities

    • activity

      NIH, NINDS

      10/01/2018 - PresentPeer Review Groups and Grant Study SectionsReviewer
    • activity

      Frontiers in Neurology

      08/01/2017 - PresentJournal ServiceAssociate Editor

    Honors

    • honor

      Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, National MS Society

      08/01/2005National AwardNMSS
    • honor

      Postdoctoral Research Award, Department of Pathology, AECOM

      10/01/1998Regional AwardAECOM
    • honor

      German Research Council scholarship

      03/01/1998International AwardGerman Research Council

    Clinical Care

    Overview

    David Pitt, MD, is a neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neuro-inflammatory diseases at Yale Medicine.

    Dr. Pitt spends the majority of his time as a researcher, investigating the causes of neurodegeneration in MS. He is also working on a new imaging method to make inflammation visible in the brain so that doctors can adjust the way they treat MS at different stages of the disease. His research into the biological mechanisms behind MS informs his work as a physician.

    When seeing patients, Dr. Pitt values taking the time to educate them about the nature of MS and how the scientific knowledge and treatments of the condition have substantially improved over the years. “The reputation of MS as a terrible disease lags behind how well we can treat it nowadays,” he says.

    “I find it important to explain to newly diagnosed patients what it really means to have multiples sclerosis and how this might be different from their conception of what it is.”

    In addition to treating patients and conducting research, Dr. Pitt is an associate professor of Neurology at the Yale School of Medicine.

    Clinical Specialties

    Neurology

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