Terrance Kummer, MD, PhD

:  Dr. Terrance T. Kummer began his research career at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a Beckman Scholarship for his studies of complex carbohydrates. He completed medical training at Washington University School of Medicine, where he also received his PhD studying mechanisms of synapse formation and maintenance. During his PhD training, Dr. Kummer discovered a unique form of synaptic patterning imposed at the neuromuscular junction. Dr. Kummer completed his residency in neurology at Harvard University, and received subspecialty training in neurocritical care at Harvard. He then joined the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine, where he is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology.  Dr. Kummer’s research focuses on circuit injury in multiple disease conditions, including traumatic brain injury, brain hemorrhage, and Alzheimer’s disease. His particular interest is in developing and applying techniques in model systems that simultaneously reveal new features of disease and provide endpoints that can be translated to the human patients he cares for in the hospital. To this end, his studies involve the use of animal models of disease and state-of-the-art microscopic and MRI-based imaging approaches to both reveal novel forms of circuit injury and establish translational biomarkers that can track these injuries in humans.