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Jagannadha Avasarala, MD, PhD

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University of Kentucky Department of Neurology

Positions

  • Professor
  • Director of the UK Comprehensive Care Center for MS and Neuroimmunology

College Unit(s)

Biography and Education

Biography

Dr. Jay Avasarala is a neurologist with extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis. Avasarala completed his neurology residency training at New York Medical College/St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers and his fellowship training in multiple sclerosis at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as a recipient of the National MS Fellowship Award. Following his fellowship training, he went on to become a faculty member at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Early in his career, Avasarala completed a medical internship at the University of Kentucky. Twenty-three years later, he made his way back to UK HealthCare and joined the staff at the UK Kentucky Neuroscience Institute in November 2018. Through his work at KNI, Avasarala hopes to leverage his interests in translational research in MS to the fullest by drawing on the support systems that UK HealthCare has in place. He has a particular interest in studying MS in African Americans as well as the role of vitamin D and bone health in MS, particularly among whites. Additionally, he is working to track disease changes and develop new diagnostic criteria based on changes in the retina as seen on optical coherence tomography, an imaging technique of the retinal layers helpful in determining the progression of MS. His goals include making fundus imaging – retinal photography useful in diagnosing MS – a routine diagnostic tool in outpatient neurology.

Education

Degree

  • Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India; Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal, India
  • PhD in neuroenzymology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
  • Post-doctoral program in molecular cytogenetics, Department of Pathology, Wayne
  • Internship, UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital

Residency

Neurology, New York Medical College/St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center, New York

Fellowship

National MS Fellowship Program, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

Certifications and Special Training

American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

Research

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

  1. Study of CD20 cell populations in patients with Ocrevus.
  2. Use of a smartphone App to study optic nerve disease.
  3. Fundus photography as a tool to decipher disease using big data
  4. Data analytics to track disease patterns in MS
  5. Optical coherence tomography in NMOSD and MS.


CLINICAL TRIALS

  1. CLICK-MS study
  2. Redcap data collection for African-Americans with MS and NMOSD (on clinicaltrials.gov)
  3. Syneos Health collaboration to enlist UKMC as a phase 3 clinical trials center for NMOSD
  4. Syneos Health collaboration to enlist UKMC as a phase 3 clinical trials center for NMOSD.

Selected Publications

Forkhead box C1 gene variant causing glaucoma and small vessel angiopathy can mimic multiple sclerosis.

Avasarala JR, Jones JR, Rogers CR.

Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2018 

 

Anti-CD20 Cell Therapies in Multiple Sclerosis-A Fixed Dosing Schedule for Ocrelizumab is Overkill.

Avasarala J.

Drug Target Insights. 2017 Oct 25;11:1177392817737515.

 

Approach to Fingolimod-Induced Lymphopenia in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Do We Have a Roadmap?

Avasarala J, Jain S, Urrea-Mendoza E.

J Clin Pharmacol. 2017 Nov;57(11):1415-1418. 

 

Is a Neurologist Needed to Diagnose Acute Stroke in the Emergency Department?: Too Many Cooks Might Spoil the Broth.

Avasarala J.

JAMA Neurol. 2016 Nov 1;73(11):1273-1274.

 

Vitamin D deficiency in multiple sclerosis: Should testing and treatment be based on racial background?

Avasarala J, Zachariah P.

J Neurol Sci. 2015 Nov 15;358(1-2):417-8. 

 

Clinically isolated syndrome--Rethinking the diagnosis.

Avasarala JR.

J Neurol Sci. 2015;353(1-2):79-80.

 

The TOUCH program and natalizumab: Fundamental flaw in patient protection.

Avasarala J.

Version 3. F1000Res. 2015 Dec 15 [revised 2016 Jan 1];4:1450. 

 

Inadequacy of clinical trial designs and data to control for the confounding impact of race/ethnicity in response to treatment in multiple sclerosis.

Avasarala J.

JAMA Neurol. 2014 Aug;71(8):943-4. 

 

Microarray analysis in B cells among siblings with/without MS - role for transcription factor TCF2.

Avasarala JR, Chittur SV, George AD, Tine JA.

BMC Med Genomics. 2008 Jan 31;1:2.

 

Can a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis be made without ruling out neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder?

Jagannadha Avasarala, Creed Pettigrew, Paige Sutton, Zain Guduru, Julie Gurwell, Brent S Sokola, Selina Mullins, Can a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis be made without ruling out neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder ?, Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Volume 40,2020, 101949, ISSN 2211-0348,