Multiple Passions
Alumnus spearheads neurology education and clinical care
at Yale while making strides against MS
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| David Hafler, M.D. |
Of the myriad diseases he studied while in medical school, David Hafler, M.D. ’78, found himself intrigued by one in particular. “As a medical student, I knew I wanted to study multiple sclerosis,” says Hafler, who spent his summers focusing on the disease at the Neuroimmunology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.
In September Hafler became chair of the Yale School of Medicine’s neurology department, as well as chief of neurology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Prior to joining Yale, Hafler spent 25 years at Harvard Medical School, where he’d been a neurologist known for his work on the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS).
For more than three decades, Hafler has been focusing on the debilitating central nervous system disease, which has no cure. His new duties at Yale ideally situate him to further his investigatory quest.
“This position will allow me to conduct my research while running and really expanding the Department of Neurology at Yale,” says Hafler, who was recently inducted into the Miller School’s Hall of Fame. “The position will also allow me to indulge my passion for training physician-scientists.”
Hafler considers the lack of physician-scientists “a major problem” for medicine’s future. “We’re not bringing along the next generation of physician-scientists, and the NIH has recognized this,” he says. “The M.D./Ph.D. programs work well, but in the next stage—after you get your diploma—getting clinical training is very difficult.”
Along with MS, Hafler says he plans to build programs that study brain tumors, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and related areas. “Yale is making a major investment in neurology,” Hafler says. “We have space for young and senior scientists to join us.”
Hafler’s wife, Janet, accompanied him to Yale Medical School, where she’s an assistant dean for educational scholarship. Janet Hafler, who holds a doctorate in education, was a Jackson Memorial Hospital pediatrics nurse when the two first met. “I married my wife while I was a University of Miami medical student,” recalls Hafler. “Janet was at Calder Library, and I met her through a common friend.”
Although he’s a longtime Ivy Leaguer, Hafler’s ties to South Florida remain strong. He grew up in Miramar, and his parents still reside in the region. Then there are the many fond remembrances from his medical student days.
“I still remember sitting on the sofa when I had my interview with (Miller School dean emeritus) Dr. (Bernard) Fogel,” Hafler says. “What a wonderful man! I’ll never forget my interview with him.”
Hafler’s work frequently puts him in touch with the Miller School’s Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Professor of Human Genomics and director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics. The two are founding members of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetic Consortium; working together, they have discovered genes associated with multiple sclerosis.
In light of how Hafler’s unwavering focus on MS first started at the Miller School, his work with Pericak-Vance neatly brings things full circle.
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