Tanuja Chitnis

Tanuja Chitnis, MD

Professor, Neurology

Biography

  • Senior Neurologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Director, Partners Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center, MassGeneral Hospital for Children
  • Director, Translational Neuroimmunology Research Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Director, The CLIMB Study, Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Senior Scientist, Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Co-Director, Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center Fellowship Program

Dr. Tanuja Chitnis a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Senior Scientist within the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH where she created the Translational Neuroimmunology Research Center focused on bringing bench discoveries to clinical trials for multiple sclerosis and related diseases. She a board-certified neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis (MS) with a dual appointment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. In addition, she serves as the Director of the CLIMB Natural History of MS study at the Partners MS Center, which is located within the Neurosciences Center at BWH. CLIMB follows over 2400 MS patients longitudinally. Here she oversees a team of analysts and postdoctoral fellows working to identify biomarkers precision treatment in MS patients, and immune mechanisms of MS risk and disease course. Her interest in children with MS led her to start the Partners Pediatric MS Center at MassGeneral Hospital for Children where she serves as the Director. Between 2010-2018, she served as the elected Chair of the International Pediatric MS Study Group, where she has led several initiatives in the study of MS in children including the launch of the first clinical trials in this population, leading to the first FDA-approved therapy for this disease. She has authored over 250 publications and reviews related to MS and demyelinating disorders, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Neurology and Journal of Neuroscience. She serves on the advisory board and steering committee of several MS-related organizations and studies including ACTRIMS, U.S. Network of Pediatric MS Centers, and the National MS Society. She receives grant funding from the Department of Defense, NIH, National MS Society, Guthy Jackson Charitable Foundation, and is the co-PI of a large study of SysteMS biology in MS sponsored by Verily. She is the recipient of several awards including the Joseph Martin Award for Clinical Research in 2019 from the Scientific Advisory Council at MGH, and the 2018 Milestones Award from the National MS Society.