Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 20, 2000Volume 29, Number 7



Dr. Stephen Strittmatter


Stephen Strittmatter is appointed
to new Coates Chair in Neurology

Dr. Stephen Strittmatter, who has been named to the Vincent Coates Chair in Neurology, is a specialist on the development and regeneration of the nervous system.

Earlier this year, he earned international attention for leading a research effort that resulted in the discovery of a protein that prevents the regeneration of axons following a traumatic injury to the central nervous system. The discovery of this protein, called Nogo, may lead to treatments to stimulate regrowth of axons in order to reverse brain and spinal cord injuries. Strittmatter is now engaged in work to define the nature of Nogo receptors and to develop methods to block those receptors.

A member of the Yale faculty since 1993, Strittmatter holds joint appointments in neurology and neurobiology. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University and earned M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University, where he was given the Michael S. Shanoff Award for outstanding research by a medical student. He completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital before becoming an assistant professor in neurology at the Harvard Medical School in 1992.

Since coming to Yale, he has been the principal investigator of a number of research projects focusing on axonal regeneration. He has received major grant awards for these projects from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the Donaghue Foundation and the John Merck Fund.

Strittmatter has written numerous articles for scientific journals and is a grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation, the Spinal Cord Research Fund of Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Welcome Trust. He has served as a member of study sections and special panels of the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

In addition to his research awards, Strittmatter has been honored with the Yale Neurology Attending Teacher of the Year Award from medical residents.

The Coates Chair in Neurology was endowed with a gift from alumnus Vincent J. Coates '46 of Sunnyvale, California. He is chair and chief executive officer of Nanometrics, a company that designs and manufactures microscopes to monitor the fabrication of integrated circuits on wafters, flat display panels and magnetic recording heads. He previously made a gift of a 150 CD-SEM scanning electron microscope to the Yale Center for Microelectronic Materials and Structures. In addition to his abiding interest in engineering, which he studied as an undergraduate, Coates has a strong personal interest in the study of the chemistry of the brain.


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A day at the beach

April Bernard, award-winning poet and novelist, will read from her new work

ISPS is seeking proposals for new field experiments in the social sciences

Campus Notes

In the News

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