Prof John Prineas recieves 2009 MSIF Charcot Award

Prof John Prineas (right) receiving the Charcot Award at ECTRIMS 2009 from Prof Chris Polman, Deputy Chairman, MSIF's International Medical and Scientific Board (IMSB).

“These are especially interesting times for the many investigators currently studying tissue changes in the brain and spinal cord in multiple sclerosis. Because of the multitude of new and unexpected findings that have been reported in recent years, we are now in the process of re-writing the basis of our understanding of the nature of tissue injury and repair in the disease.
The MSIF Charcot Award for 2009 honours not only my contribution to a particular body of work , and for this I am most grateful, but also the efforts of colleagues with whom I have worked for many years, our patients, and the universities, MS societies and other institutions that have supported this work.”
Professor John W Prineas

“The Charcot award recognizes a life-time contribution to the world of MS and there could be no more deserving recipient. John Prineas has made a unique contribution to our understanding of the pathology of multiple sclerosis - over a number of decades, collaborating with colleagues on a truly global scale.”
Prof. Alan Thompson

Prof Prineas’ research career has spanned more than 40 years and his work on myelin destruction has been a central theme. He began his medical training at the University of Sydney, Australia and moved to London in the mid 1960s to continue his advanced medical training and specialization in neurology. In 1967 he travelled to USA where he was mentored by Labe Scheinberg, a pioneer in the clinical care of MS, and in that year also received a postdoctoral fellowship from the National MS Society. In 1974, he was appointed Professor at the Department of Neurosciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey Medical School, USA.

Following a 25 year career in research, teaching and treating people with MS, Prof Prineas returned to his native Australia where he is now Professor of Neurology at the Institute of Clinical neurosciences, University of Sydney. Since then he has remained active in research of the pathology of the early lesion in MS.

“Professor Prineas published a landmark paper in 1979 providing EM evidence that repair to myelin can occur in MS plaques and in 1993 he further demonstrated that remyelination can occur normally within the central nervous system. Subsequently, Professor Prineas demonstrated the ability of oligodendrocytes to regenerate in MS. This work has opened up new therapeutic avenues for exploration. He is also a senior advisor on the ‘MS lesion project’.

More recently, Professor Prineas with Dr Barnett has published a study (Annals of Neurology 2004) describing oligodendrocyte apoptosis occurring in MS lesions prior to any evidence of inflammation. This has not only expanded the knowledge of the underlying pathology of MS but challenged more traditionally held concepts of the development of the MS lesion.

He is both a treasured resource and an inspiration to all involved in the investigation of MS.”
Dr. Bill Carroll

“The re-flowering of tissue based accounts of multiple sclerosis was largely enabled by the efforts of a very few experimental neuropathologists amongst whom John Prineas was a key figure.

Specifically, Prineas’ application of experimental observations on the morphological features of thin myelin sheaths with short internodes established the reality of remyelination and contributed to the launch of the modern era of neurobiology in which precursor and stem cell biology now play such a prominent role.”
Prof. Alastair Compston

Past Charcot Award winners

2007 Charcot award winner, Prof Alastair Compston (left) with 2009 Charcot award winner, Prof John Prineas.

Prof Prineas' publications.pdf (28 kb)