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Jagannadha Avasarala, MD, PhD

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University of Kentucky Department of Neurology

Positions

  • Professor
  • Director of the ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú 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 ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú HealthCare and joined the staff at the ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú 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 ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú 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, ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú 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. Redcap data collection for African-Americans with MS and NMOSD (on clinicaltrials.gov)
  2. Syneos Health collaboration to enlist ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúMC as a phase 3 clinical trials center for NMOSD
  3. Syneos Health collaboration to enlist ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúMC as a phase 3 clinical trials center for NMOSD.

Selected Publications

Avasarala JR, Jones JR, Rogers CR.

Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2018 

 

Avasarala J.

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

 

Avasarala J, Jain S, Urrea-Mendoza E.

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

 

I

Avasarala J.

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

 

Avasarala J, Zachariah P.

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

 

Avasarala JR.

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

 

Avasarala J.

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

 

I

Avasarala J.

JAMA Neurol. 2014 Aug;71(8):943-4. 

 

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

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

 

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,