Richard M. Ransohoff, MD, is Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center in the Department of Neurosciences of Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic; Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University; and Staff Neurologist in the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Ransohoff graduated with honors from Bard College, Annandale, N.Y., with a BA in literature, and received an MD degree with honors from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He completed residencies in internal medicine at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Cleveland (board-certified, 1981) and in neurology at Cleveland Clinic (board-certified, 1985). From 1984 until 1989, Dr. Ransohoff was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Timothy Nilsen in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Among other honors and awards, Dr. Ransohoff received a Physician’s Research Training Award from the American Cancer Society (1984-1986); a Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholarship from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS; 1987-1992); a Clinical Investigator Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH; 1988-1993); the John and Samuel Bard Award in Science and Medicine (2002); the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute’s Award for Excellence in Science in 2006; the Scientific Achievement Award in Basic Science of the Cleveland Clinic (2009); the F.E. Bennett Lectureship of the American Neurological Association (2009). He has been cited continuously from 1996 through the present, in the “Best Doctors in America” for his expertise in the clinical care of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr. Ransohoff was elected to the American Association of Physicians in 2006 and as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2007).
Dr. Ransohoff served as regular member on study sections of the NIH and NMSS (as Chair) and is currently a member of the CMBG Study Section (through 2016). He has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Immunology (2002-2005 as Section Editor), Trends in Immunology, the Journal of Neuroimmunology, Nature Reviews Immunology, and Neurology (Associate Editor). From 1998-2000, Dr. Ransohoff was a member of the NINDS Director's Planning Panel on “The Neural Environment.” He is a member of the Steering Committee for the NIH Therapeutic Development Program in Spinal Muscular Atrophy; the Scientific Advisory Board for Chemocentryx, Mountain View, Calif and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA). He serves on External Advisory Boards for CHARTER (CNS HIV Anti-Retroviral Therapy Effects Research; MH22005); a Program Project on Alexander’s Disease (NS 42803); the MS Lesion Project (NMSS RG 3185; through 2008); the University of Nebraska’s Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders (NS43985; through 2007) and was the External Advisor for the European Union’s Project on "Mechanisms of Brain Inflammation” (QLG3-00612; through 2005). He is a member of the National MS Society’s Medical Advisory Board. He was the Co-Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory’s special topics course on “Pathogenesis of Neuroimmunologic Disease” held biennially at Wood’s Hole, Mass (through 2008). He was a member of the External Advisory Board for Meharry Medical College’s Special Neuroscience Research Program (through 2008). He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Gladstone Institute for Neurological Disease, UCSF, San Francisco, CA.
Dr. Ransohoff’s research has focused on the functions of chemokines and chemokine receptors in development and pathology of the nervous system. He also has a longstanding interest in the mechanisms of action of interferon-beta. Dr. Ransohoff has received research support from the NIH and the NMSS continuously for more than 20 years. As of 2011, he lists more than 315 citations in PubMed, and has edited five books.
Dr. Ransohoff is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and the American Association of Physicians and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Ransohoff is married to Margaret Seidler Ransohoff. They have two daughters, Amy Julia and Lena Jane.