Professor Dr. Brian Wainger

Biography

Dr. Brian Wainger is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He focuses on the physiology of motor and sensory neurons that contribute to diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and chronic pain. His laboratory utilizes both electrophysiology and stem cell biology to ask clinically relevant research questions, aiming for rapid translation of innovative treatments for motor and sensory nervous system diseases. His research led to the identification of electrical activity abnormalities in motor neurons derived from ALS patients, a discovery that contributed to the development of the FDA-approved drug retigabine (ezogabine) as a therapeutic candidate. Dr. Wainger completed his undergraduate studies in molecular biology at Princeton University and trained in ion channel physiology through the MD/PhD program at Columbia University. He then finished a medical residency at the Partners Neurology Program and a clinical fellowship in Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a research fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital with Clifford Woolf. His clinical expertise lies at the intersection of neurology and pain medicine.

Research Interests

Experience