Merit Cudkowicz, MD

Merit Cudkowicz, MD, MSc

Dr. Cudkowicz is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She is trained in Neurology and Experimental Therapeutics with a focus in neurodegenerative disorders. She obtained a Masters degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in June 1996 and she was a fellow in the MGH/MIT Clinical Investigator Training Program from 1994-1996 where she received additional training in clinical trial design and statistics. She has gained expertise in clinical trial design, statistics, outcome measures and ethics through course work for her Masters degree and through leadership of several multi-center clinical trials in ALS (Topiramate, Creatine, Celebrex, Coenzyme Q10, Arimoclomol and Sodium Phenylbutrate), and three in Huntington’s disease.

Dr. Cudkowicz directs the Massachusetts General Hospital ALS clinic and Neurology Clinical Trials Unit. The personnel in the Mass General NCTU are experienced in the coordination and management of clinical trials. Dr. Cudkowicz is currently leading a multi-center clinical trial of coenzyme Q10 in Huntington’s Disease, a clinical trial of Ceftriaxone in ALS and a clinical trial of Lithium in ALS. She is also the co-principal investigator of two clinical trials in familial ALS caused by mutations in superoxide dismutase.

She is actively involved in mentorship of young investigators in clinical research and is co-principal investigator for a NINDS funded contract course entitled, “Clinical Trials Methods Course in Neurology”.

Dr. Cudkowicz serves on the boards of scientific advisors for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the ALS Association. She is the 2009 co-recipient of the Sheila Essay Award for ALS research. Additionally, she is the co-founder and Co-Chair of the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS), a multi-center collaborative group formed to design and implement clinical trials in ALS.