Stephen Waxman, M.D., Ph.D.

Stephen Waxman, M.D., Ph.D. is the Flaherty Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Pharmacology at Yale University, where he was chairman of neurology from 1986 to 2009. He founded Yale’s Neuroscience & Regeneration Research Center in 1988 and is its director. He previously worked at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, and is visiting professor at University College London. Waxman’s research defined the ion channel architecture of axons and its importance for axonal conduction. He demonstrated sodium channel plasticity in demyelinated axons which supports remission in multiple sclerosis. His molecule-to-man studies combining molecular genetics, molecular biology, and biophysics have illuminated the contribution of ion channels to human pain. A new class of medications for pain, based partly on his work, has entered clinical trials. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Waxman’s honors include the Dystel Prize and Wartenberg Award, Middleton Award and Magnuson Award, and the Soriano Award. He was honored in Great Britain with The Physiological Society’s Annual Prize, an accolade he shares with his heroes Andrew Huxley, John Eccles, and Alan Hodgkin.