Download BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Mahalia S Desruisseaux Assistant Professor EDUCATION/TRAINING

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Mahalia S Desruisseaux
Assistant Professor
EDUCATION/TRAINING
Queens College of the City University of New
York, Queens, NY
BA
05/96
Biology
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
Piscataway, NJ
MD
05/00
Medicine
North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY
Residency
06/03
Internal Medicine
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Fellowship
06/07
Infectious Diseases
A. Personal Statement
I have been working on a murine model of cerebral malaria since my fellowship at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine. My studies have led to some interesting discoveries for example, I
was first to describe an increase in all the components of the endothelin pathway in the mouse
model of cerebral malaria which was associated with a decrease in cerebral blood flow. Something
which is observed in pediatric cerebral malaria and has been subsequently confirmed by others
investigators. For the first time my laboratory has demonstrated that just as with humans, mice
successfully treated with antimalarials sustain persistent cognitive deficits, something that is also
observed in pediatric malaria. My investigations in this model of murine model of cerebral malaria
will continue to enable to me to examine in detail the mechanisms leading to persistent cognitive
deficits with cerebral malaria such as abnormal regulation of cellular signaling pathways.
B. Positions and Honors
Positions and Employment
2007 – 2009
Instructor, Pathology and Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
2009 – present Assistant Professor, Pathology and Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Bronx, NY
Other Experience and Professional Memberships
1996 – 2000
2000 – 2003
2004 – 2006
2002 – 2008
2006 –
2007 –
2009 -
Member, Student National Medical Association
Member, American College of Physicians
Member, American Medical Association
Member, Infectious Diseases Society of America
Member, American Society for Microbiology
Member, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
American Reinvestment and Recovery Act RC1 Challenge grants, ad hoc reviewer
2009 2010 -
Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Infectious Diseases, ad hoc reviewer
Obesity, ad hoc reviewer
Journal of Neuroparasitology, Associate editor
American Journal of Pathology, ad hoc reviewer
Malaria Journal, ad hoc reviewer
Journal of Neuroimmunology, ad hoc reviewer
Honors
1993
2003
2005
2006
2007
2009
Dr Pearl Foster Award for Outstanding Minority Women in Biology, Queens
College
Dr George M Jaffin Award for Research and Scholarly Activity, North Shore
University Hospital
IDSA ERF/NFID Colin L Powell Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship in Tropical
Disease Research
Department of Medicine annual research symposium award, Albert Einstein
College of Medicine/ Montefiore Medical Center
Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS)
AECOM Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) career
development award
C. Selected Peer-reviewed Publications
Most relevant to the current application
1. Kennan RP, Machado FS, Lee SC, Desruisseaux MS, Wittner M, Tsuji M, Tanowitz HB.
Reduced Cerebral Blood Flow and N-Acetyl Aspartate in a Murine Model of Cerebral Malaria.
Parasitology Research. 2005; 96:302-307.
2. Machado FS, Desruisseaux MS*, Nagajyothi, Kennan RP, Hetherington HP, Wittner M, Weiss
LM, Lee SC, Scherer PE, Tsuji M, Tanowitz HB. Endothelin in a murine model of cerebral
malaria. Experimental Biology and Medicine. 2006; 231:1176-1181. *co-first author
3. Desruisseaux MS, Tanowitz HB, Weiss LM, Mott A, Milner DA. Human Parasitic Disease in the
context of the Blood-Brain Barrier – Effects, Interactions, and Transgressions. In: Blood-Brain
Interfaces – From Ontogeny to Artificial Barriers. Dermietzel R, Spray D, Nedergaard M (Eds.)
Wiley VCH. Weinheim. pp 671-696, 2006.
4. Desruisseaux MS, Gulinello M, Smith DN, Lee SC, Tsuji M, Weiss LM, Spray DC, Tanowitz HB.
Cognitive dysfunction in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA. Journal of Infectious
Diseases. 2008; 197:1621-1627.
5. Desruisseaux MS, Machado FS, Weiss LM, Tanowitz HB, Golightly LM. Cerebral malaria: a
vasculopathy. American Journal of Pathology. 2010; 176:1075-1078.
6. Dai M, Reznik SE, Spray DC, Weiss LM, Tanowitz HB, Gulinello M, Desruisseaux MS.
Persistent cognitive and motor deficits after successful antimalarial treatment in murine
cerebral malaria. Microbes and Infection 2010; 12:1198-1207.
Additional recent publications of importance to the field (in chronological order)
1. Desruisseaux M, Meyerhoff R, Arunabh T, Kaplan M. Diagnostic puzzlers: Chronic cough in a
woman with HIV infection. The Journal of Respiratory Diseases. 2004; 25: 368-376.
2. Nagajyothi, Desruisseaux M, Bouzahzah B, Weiss LM, Andrade DDS, Factor SM, Scherer PE,
Albanese C, Lisanti MP, Tanowitz HB. Cyclin and caveolin expression in an acute model of
murine chagasic myocarditis. Cell Cycle. 2006; 5:107-112.
3. Hassan GS, Mukherjee S, Nagajyothi, Weiss LM, Petkova SB, de Almeida CJG, Huang H,
Desruisseaux MS, Bouzahzah B, Pestell RG, Albanese C, Christ GJ, Lisanti MP, Tanowitz HB.
Trypanosoma cruzi infection induces proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Infection
and Immunity. 2006; 74:152-159.
4. Bouzahzah B, Nagajyothi F, Desruisseaux MS, Krishnamachary M, Factor SM, Cohen A, Lisanti
MP, Petkova SB, Pestell RG, Wittner W, Mukherjee S, Weiss LM, Linda A Jelicks LA, Albanese
C, Tanowitz HB. Cell Cycle Regulatory Proteins in the Liver in Murine Trypanosoma Cruzi
Infection. Cell cycle. 2006; 5:2396-2400.
5. Ashton AW, Mukherjee S, Nagajyothi F, Huang H, Braunstein VL, Desruisseaux MS, Factor
SM, Lopez L, Berman JW, Wittner M, Scherer PE, Capra V, Coffman TM, Serhan CN, Gotlinger
K, Wu KK, Weiss LM, Tanowitz HB. Thromboxane A2 is a key regulator of pathogenesis during
Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2007; 204: 929-940.
6. Desruisseaux MS, Nagajyothi, Truijillo ME, Tanowitz HB, Scherer PE. Adipocyte, adipose
tissue, and infectious disease. Infection and immunity. 2007; 75:1066-1078.
7. Nagajyothi F, Desruisseaux MS, Thiruvur N, Weiss LM, Braunstein VL, Albanese C, Teixeira
MM, de Almeida CJ, Lisanti MP, Scherer PE, Tanowitz HB. Trypanosoma cruzi infection of
cultured adipocytes results in an inflammatory phenotype. Obesity. 2008;16:1992-1997.
8. Nagajyothi F, Desruisseaux MS, Weiss LM, Chua S, Albanese C, Machado FS, Esper L, Lisanti
MP, Teixeira MM, Scherer PE, Tanowitz HB. Chagas disease, adipose tissue and the metabolic
syndrome. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2009;104 Suppl 1:219-225.
9. Nagajyothi F, Desruisseaux M, Jelicks LA, Machado F, Chua SC, Scherer P, Tanowitz HB.
Perspectives on adipose tissue, Chagas disease and implications for the metabolic syndrome.
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases. 2009;2009:824324.
D. Research Support
Ongoing Research Support
Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists 2007-2012
Neurological complications of cerebral malaria
Role: PI
Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) Career Development
Scholarship/ Institutional start-up fund
2009-2012
NIH/ NINDS 2011-2016
NS069577
Cerebral Malaria: Mechanisms of disease and neurological salvage
Role: PI
Completed Research Support
NIH training grant in Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Diseases (Kitsis) 2005-2006
NIH/ NHLBI
T32 HL-07675
Investigating the potential role of Endothelin in the vasculopathy of cerebral malaria
Role: Research Fellow/Trainee
IDSA ERF/NFID Colin L Powell Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship in Tropical Disease Research
2005-2006
Investigating the potential role of Endothelin in the vasculopathy of cerebral malaria
Role: Research Fellow
Neuroscience Fellowship in the Department of Neuroscience of the Department of Psychiatry &
Behavioral Sciences. Albert Einstein College of Medicine/ State of New York, Office of Mental
Health, Bronx Psychiatric Center. 2006-2008
Investigating potential adjunctive therapies that may abate the encephalopathy of cerebral
malaria
Role: research fellow