Leslie Morrison, MD
Professor
Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics
Education and Honors:
1987-1989
1989-1992
1992-1994
1994-2000
19971997-2010
1999-2003
2000-2006
2001-2010
20052005-2009
2005-2009
20062009-
Residency, Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Residency, Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Staff Neurologist, LAT Neurology and Pediatrics
UNM SOM
Assistant Professor Neurology and Pediatrics, University of New Mexico
Director UNM Pediatric MDA neuromuscular clinic
Division Chief, Child Neurology
University of New Mexico SOM
Chief of Clinical Operations, Neurology
Associate Professor Neurology and Pediatrics, University of New Mexico
Director UNM-MDA OPMD clinic
Director UNM-CCM clinic
Assistant Dean, Academic Affairs
Vice Chair of Neurology
Professor Neurology and Pediatrics
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Research Interests: Our team studies the natural history of disease that disproportionately affect
populations in New Mexico. The two primary diseases are Familial Cerebral Cavernous
Malformations (CCM) and Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy (OPMD). New Mexico is home to the
largest population of familial CCM in the world due to a genetic founder effect, recently traced back to
a probable ancestral couple who came here with the Oñate expedition in 1598. We are studying 500
patients over 5 years including children over 6 years of age, with the first 100 studied longitudinally in
attempts to ascertain predictors of disease severity. The disease is characterized by multiple lesions
with de novo lesions appearing over time. Most disease morbidity is a result of lesion hemorrhage
and increased permeability is thought to increase risk of hemorrhage. A novel brain imaging
technique (DCE-MRI) quantitatively assesses lesion permeability and has been applied to this cohort
with plans to launch a pilot trial to evaluate the effect of simvastatin on lesion permeability.
Selected Publications:
Marchuk DA, Gallione CJ, Morrison LA, Clericuzio CL, Hart BL, Kosofsky BE, Louis DN, Gusella JF, Davis LE,
Prenger VL. A locus for cavernous malformations maps to chromosome 7q in two families. Genomics 1995;
28:311-314.
Johnson EW, Iyer LM, Rich SS, Orr HT, Gil-Nagel A, Kurth JH, Zabramski JM, Marchuk DA, Weissenbach J,
Clericuzio CL, Davis LE, Hart BL, Gusella JF, Kosofsky BE, Louis DN, Morrison LA, Green ED, Weber JL. Refined
localization of the cerebral cavernous malformation gene (CCM1) to a 4-cM interval of chromosome 7q
contained in a well-defined YAC contig. Genome Res. 1995 Nov;5(4):368-80.
Gunel M, Awad I, Finberg K, Anson J, Steinberg GK, Batjer HH, Kopitnik TA, Morrison L, Giannotta SL, NelsonWilliams C, Lifton RP. A founder mutation as a cause of cerebral cavernous malformation in Hispanic
Americans. New England Journal of Medicine 1996; 334:946-51.
Sahoo T, Johnson EW, Thomas JW, Kuehl PM, Jones TL, Dokken CG, Touchman JW, Gallione CJ, Lee-Lin S,
Kosofsky B, Kurth JH, Louis DN, Mettler G, Morrison L, Gil-Nagel A, Rich SS, Zabramski JM, Boguski MS, Green
ED, Marchuk DA. Mutations in the gene encoding KRIT1, a Krev-1/rap1a binding protein, cause cerebral
cavernous malformations (CCM1). Hum Mol Genet 1999; 8(12):2325-2333.
Becher MW, Morrison L, Davis LE, Maki WC, King MK, Bicknell JM, Reinert BL, Bartolo C, Bear DG.
Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy in Hispanic New Mexicans. JAMA 2001; 286(19):2437-40.
Neel, AT, Palmer PM, Sprouls G, Morrison L. Tongue strength and speech intelligibility in oculopharyngeal
muscular dystrophy. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology 2006; 14: 273-277.
Gasparovic C, Song T, Devier D, Bockholt HJ, Caprihan A, Mullins PG, Posse S, Jung RE, Morrison LA. Use of
tissue water as a concentration reference for proton spectroscopic imaging. Magn Reson Med. 2006;
55(6):1219-26.
Zlotoff BJ, Bang RH, Padilla RS, Morrison L. Cutaneous angiokeratoma and venous malformations in a HispanicAmerican patient with cerebral cavernous malformations. Br J Dermatol 2007; 157(1):210-2
Wang CH, Finkel RS, Bertini ES, Schroth M, Simonds A, Wong B, Aloysius A, Morrison L, Main M, Crawford TO,
Trela A. Consensus statement for standard of care in spinal muscular atrophy. J Child Neurol. 2007;
22(8):1027-49.
Morrison L. Unraveling RYR1 mutations and muscle biopsies. Neurology. 2008; 70(2):99-100.
Al Shahi R, Farrall A, Berg M, Morrison L, Awad I. Hemorrhage from cerebral cavernous malformations:
definition and reporting standards. Angioma Alliance Scientific Advisory Board. Stroke 2008 Dec;39(12):322230.
Allen RC, Jaramillo J, Black R, Sandoval D, Morrison L, Qualls C, Carter KD, Nerad JA. Clinical characterization
and blepharoptosis surgery outcomes in Hispanic New Mexicans with oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy.
Ophthal Plast Reconstr Surg. 2009 Mar-Apr;25(2):103-8
Leblanc GG, Golanov E, Awad IA, Young WL; Biology of Vascular Malformations of the Brain NINDS Workshop
Collaborators. Biology of vascular malformations of the brain. Stroke. 2009 Dec;40(12):e694-702. Epub 2009
Oct 15. Review.
Lmorrison@salud.unm.edu E-mail to Dr. Morrison