Philip L. De Jager, M.D. Ph.D.
Dr. Philip L. De Jager is the Steven R. and Kathleen P. Haley
Distinguished Chair for the Neurosciences at the Brigham &
Women’s Hospital and is an associate professor of neurology at
Harvard Medical School. He is the director for basic and
translational research at the Neurosciences Institute of the Brigham
& Women’s Hospital. He continues to practice clinical neurology,
seeing patients within the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center that is
affiliated with the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
He has developed a research program focused on understanding how
genetic variation affects neurodegenerative diseases and applying
this knowledge to the development of clinical algorithms. The
laboratory is focused primarily on two disease areas: multiple
sclerosis (MS) and aging-related cognitive and functional decline. Shared features of these two
diseases lead to synergy among the different projects being executed in the laboratory. As an
active member of the International MS Genetics Consortium, Dr. De Jager has contributed to
most recent gene discoveries in MS and has led, for the consortium, the different iterations of the
meta-analysis of MS genome-wide association scans that consider all available genetic data. He
has also translated the results of the gene discovery efforts into an algorithm to estimate an
individual’s risk of MS. These and other ongoing efforts to identify predictors of disease course
and treatment efforts are directed to have an impact on the clinical management of MS and of
individuals at high risk of developing MS.
The program of studies related to cognitive decline in older age is performed in collaboration
with colleagues at RUSH University. The studies rely on the unique cohorts of older individual
based at RUSH University, which enable us to uncover the causal chain linking an individual’s
genetic variation to clinically evident cognitive impairment and ultimately dementia. Exploration
of the genome, epigenome, transcriptome and proteome in the brain of these longitudinally
monitored individuals is ongoing and has already revealed the functional consequences of certain
genetic variants associated with Alzheimer’ Disease.
To support these efforts and other projects, he has developed new computational methods to
enhance cytometric analysis, analysis of functional immunology assays, and genetic analysis of
longitudinal data in collaboration with colleagues at the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard
University.
Dr. De Jager was born in Minnesota and was raised in Brussels, Paris, and New York City. He
graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University in 1991 and then completed his Ph.D. degree
in neurogenetics at the Rockefeller University (1998) and his M.D. degree at Cornell University
Medical College (1999). After a medical internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in
Boston (2000), he began his neurology residency in the Partners Healthcare Neurology Program
at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 2003, he
joined the faculty of neurology at Harvard Medical School as an Instructor after he completed his
residency program. He then pursued sub-specialty clinical experience in multiple sclerosis as well
as expertise in both human genetics at the Broad Institute and in clinical investigation as a Pfizer
Fellow in the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Harvard and MIT. In 2006, he became the
head of his own laboratory within the Center for Neurologic Diseases and became an assistant
professor at Harvard Medical School in 2007. In 2008, he received the prestigious Harry Weaver
Neuroscience Scholar Award from the National MS Society, and was promoted to associate
professor in 2010. Finally, he became the director for basic and translational research at the
Neurosciences Institute of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in 2010, reflecting his growing role
in generating and leading multidisciplinary research projects across the neurosciences.