S. Claiborne Johnston

First Appeared Thursday, 06 March '08

UCSF Stroke Expert Wins Award for Excellence

S. Claiborne Johnston, MD, PhD, director of the Stroke Service and professor of neurology and epidemiology at UCSF, was honored with the William Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke by the American Stroke Association at the International Stroke Conference 2008.

The award honors “significant achievement in the clinical investigation and management of stroke.” Johnston has published extensively on prevention and treatment of stroke and transient ischemic attack. He has led several large-cohort studies of cerebrovascular disease and three multicenter, randomized trials.

Johnston treats patients with cerebral aneurysms, vascular malformations, and stroke in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit and on the wards. Most of his care of patients occurs in the hospital, but he also sees some patients with complex neurovascular problems in the clinic.

Johnston studies stroke treatment and prevention, using the tools of computer science and epidemiology.

Johnston is the executive vice editor of the Annals of Neurology and has served on the editorial boards of several other journals. He previously has been honored with the American Stroke Association’s Siekert New Investigator Award and the American Academy of Neurology’s Pessin Prize for Stroke Leadership.

He received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School and completed residency training in neurology at UCSF. He completed a fellowship with the Neurovascular Service at UCSF and received a PhD degree in epidemiology from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

The Feinberg Award, supported by an educational grant from the pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim, is named for William Feinberg, MD (1952–1997), a prominent stroke researcher and American Heart Association volunteer who contributed to a fuller understanding of the causes of stroke.