PHILADELPHIA – Joseph R. Berger, MD, professor of Neurology and chief of the Multiple Sclerosis division in the department of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was recently awarded the Distinguished Neurology Teacher Award from the American Neurological Association (ANA) for his outstanding accomplishments in teaching neurology to residents and medical students. He received the award at the organization’s 140th annual meeting, September 27th to 29th in Chicago.
Berger is most known for his research in the neurological effects of HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other inflammatory disorders of the brain.
“It is quite an honor to be recognized by my peers with this award,” Berger said. “The past recipients are a veritable who’s who of teachers in academic neurology and it is extremely flattering to be included in that group.”
His research into the neurological complications of HIV, specifically, have contributed substantially to the understanding of the diseases’ impact on the central and peripheral nervous system and neurological complications that result from the accompanying immunosuppression of AIDS. Berger’s work helped uncover why progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a neurological complication caused by inflammation of the brain’s white matter and common in immunosuppressed patients, occurs more frequently in AIDS than in other immunosuppressive conditions. Berger also discovered the value of the anabolic steroid oxandrolone in the treatment of AIDS.
The award recognizes and reward contributions by gifted and talented teachers of neurology from the entire field of clinical neurology or neuroscience.
Following faculty posts at the University of Miami School of Medicine and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, he joined the Penn faculty in 2014.
Berger assisted the development of the first neurology training program in Ethiopia and was one of the co-founders of People-to-People, an organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS care and treatment in East Africa. He has been a frequently invited guest lecturer and visiting professor throughout the United States and has been a visiting professor in Brazil, Ethiopia, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and Israel.
He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and the American College of Physicians. He is also the case report editor of the Journal of NeuroVirology and co-founded the International Neuroscience of HIV meeting. He has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers, more than 100 chapters, and edited 3 textbooks, including AIDS and the Nervous System; Clinical Neurovirology; and HIV/AIDS and the Nervous System. Berger was previously awarded the Master Teacher Award for Leadership and Teaching from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and the Distinguished Teaching at Minority Institutions Award of the African American Neurological Association presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Toronto in 1998.
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