S. Thomas Carmichael, M.D., Ph.D. 

As a clinician-scientist, S. Thomas Carmichael, M.D., Ph.D., investigates how the brain recovers after a stroke. By studying the cells and molecules that begin to repair the brain after injury, he hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the healing process, which could inform the development of new drugs and cell therapies to promote recovery in patients with stroke and other brain diseases.

Through this research, Carmichael discovered a novel environment in the brain that supports repair and regeneration after stroke by forming new blood vessels and secreting specialized proteins, known as growth factors. These growth factors stimulate neural stem cells to generate new, healthy neurons to replace those that have been damaged. His present work focuses on developing drugs that will influence this environment to further natural recovery following stroke.

Carmichael’s lab is also pursuing a method that would allow scientists and clinicians to influence the survival and fate of the neural stem cells that normally reside in the brain. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop cell therapies that stimulate the brain’s own tissue regeneration after stroke, head injury and other brain diseases. In addition to utilizing stem cells that are found naturally to the brain, the Carmichael lab is investigating the feasibility of transplanting stem or progenitor cells as a method of therapeutic cell replacement therapy to aid in brain repair.

Carmichael received his medical and doctorate degrees from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he completed his neurology residency.