J. Marc Simard, MD, PhD
Dr. Bizhan Aarabi Professor in Neurotrauma and Interim Chair, Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine
J. Marc Simard is a nationally recognized basic science researcher who specializes in vascular neurosurgery, which includes the surgery and management of patients with stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and other vascular lesions of the brain. He also serves as chief of neurological surgery at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center.
For almost 40 years, Dr. Simard has researched the role of ion channels in diseases of the central nervous system, including stroke, brain bleeds, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. He has published more than 260 peer-reviewed publications and has had continuous National Institutes of Health and VA funding for more than three decades. His translational work has led to the awarding of 14 U.S. and 22 international patents.
Simard discovered the Sur1-Trpm4 channel, which plays a central role in numerous diseases and other conditions of the central nervous system. His work in animals showed that blocking these Sur1-Trpm4 channels after stroke or brain injury reduces swelling and bleeding, reducing damage and improving outcome. Drugs that block these channels are now in worldwide Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials for treating traumatic brain injury and stroke.
Simard earned his MD/PhD at Creighton University. He did his internship and residency at the Shands and VA hospitals at the University of Florida, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship at Saarland University in Germany. His first faculty appointment was at the University of Texas. He joined the surgery and physiology faculty at UMSOM in 1993.
