Dr. Arun Venkatesan received his Ph.D. in microbiology/immunology and his M.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, followed by an internship in internal medicine at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. He completed his residency in neurology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Now an Assistant Professor of Neurology, Dr. Venkatesan specializes in immunological/inflammatory and infectious diseases that affect the nervous system. Examples include multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, transverse myelitis, central nervous system lupus, CNS vasculitis, viral encephalitis, Creutzfeld Jakob Disease, neurologic complications of HIV/AIDS, and paraneoplastic conditions.

Dr. Venkatesan’s research interests focus not only on understanding how infection and inflammation damage the nervous system, but also on how to promote repair of the damaged nervous system. His laboratory seeks: 1) to determine how to protect axons, which are the “cables” that connect neurons to each other, from inflammatory or infectious damage; and 2) to understand mechanisms by which new neurons can replace damaged cells within the brain and spinal cord. Dr. Venkatesan anticipates that this research will have applications toward a number of diseases, including multiple sclerosis and viral infections of the nervous system.

Dr. Venkatesan sees patients at The Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in Baltimore on Wednesdays.