Daniel S. Reich, M.D., Ph.D.

The major goal of research in our lab is to understand the pathobiology of multiple sclerosis using noninvasive or minimally invasive imaging methods, particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The lab develops and performs experiments with new MRI techniques, on state-of-the-art imaging equipment housed in the NIH Clinical Center, to elucidate the biological underpinnings of imaging abnormalities and to understand how such abnormalities relate to clinical disability. In addition to the human disease, we also study related animal models using similar techniques. Corollary goals of the research are to adapt new imaging techniques as biologically (and hopefully clinically) relevant outcome measures in both clinical trials and routine patient care, and to apply them to other inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system.

Daniel Reich — a neurologist and neuroradiologist — directs the Translational Neuroradiology Section in NINDS. In his clinical practice, he cares for patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases, and he also leads several clinical studies focusing on multiple sclerosis. Research in his lab focuses on the use of advanced MRI techniques to understand the sources of disability in multiple sclerosis and on ways of adapting those approaches for research trials and patient care. He is particularly interested in harnessing noninvasive imaging modalities to dissect biological mechanisms of tissue damage.