Dr. Neil holds hospital appointments at St. Louis Children's Hospital, Shriners' Hospital for Crippled Children and Barnes Hospital, all in St. Louis. He is licensed in the state of Missouri, and is board certified in Pediatrics (October, 1989) and Neurology with special competence in Child Neurology (February, 1991).

His honors and awards include Phi Beta Kappa, Washington University, the Antoinette Frances Dames Prize in Physiology and Biophysics (1978), the James L. O'Leary Research Prize in Neurosciences (1984), the George F. Gill Prize in Pediatrics (1984), and the Child Neurology Society Young Investigator Award (1993).

He serves on the editorial boards of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Neurology, Concepts in Magnetic Resonance, Annals of Neurology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Journal of Magnetic Resonance, and Clinical Chemistry. He is an ad hoc reviewer for the NIH Technical Evaluation Group (NINDS) and BDCN-1.

He is a member of Sigma Xi of Washington University, the Society for Neuroscience, the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the St. Louis Pediatric Society, the American Board of Pediatrics, the General Pediatrics Certifying Examination Committee, and the Group C Scientific Program Committee of the Child Neurology Society.

Our research group is focused on application of magnetic resonance methods to obtain a better understanding of brain injury. The methods used include magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopy. We have been applying these methods to both animal models of brain injury and human subjects. Four representative projects are described below.

One recent innovation in imaging of brain injury has been the use of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for early detection of brain injury. Whereas conventional MR imaging methods do not show injury for hours to days after its occurrence, DTI shows injury within minutes. We are employing both animal models and tissue culture to investigate the basis for image contrast in DTI following injury.
We have been applying Bayesian probability theory to analysis of MR imaging and spectroscopy data.

We have been evaluating the use of sodium imaging for assessing brain injury. While sodium imaging presents technical challenges when compared with conventional MR imaging, the contrast available in sodium images of injured tissue is quite high. This is a result of increased tissue sodium content associated with the loss of ion homeostasis and increase in intracellular sodium levels in injured brain.

We have been applying DTI to newborn humans. The primary objective of this study is to determine which proportions of neonatal brain injury occur before birth, during birth, and after birth. The answer to this question has b implications for devising strategies to prevent or treat the brain injury which leads to cerebral palsy in children.

Medical Training

Dr. Neil received his B.S. in Biology summa cum laud, from Washington University in 1977, and his MD and PhD in Neurobiology from Washington University in1984. He then completed a General Pediatric Residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital and a Pediatric Neurology Fellowship before being appointed Instructor of Pediatrics and Neurology in 1990. In 1992 he was promoted to Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology, and received his appointment in the Department of Radiology in 1999.

Selected Publications

Duong TQ, Ackerman JJH, Ying HS, Neil JJ. Evaluation of extra- and intracellular apparent diffusion in normal and globally-ischemic rat brain via 19F NMR. Magn Reson Med 1998 40:1-13 (1998).

Neil JJ, Shiran SI, McKinstry RC, et al. Normal brain in human newborns: apparent diffusion coefficient and diffusion anisotropy measured using diffusion tensor MR imaging. Radiology 1998 209:57-66.

Yablonskiy DA, Neil JJ, Raichle M, Ackerman JJH. Homonuclear J coupling effects in volume-localized NMR spectroscopy: pitfalls and solutions. Magn Reson Med 1998 2:169-178.

Neil JJ. Measurement of water motion (apparent diffusion) in biological systems. Concepts Magn Reson 1997 9:385-401.

Neil JJ, Duong T, Ackerman JJH. Evaluation of intracellular diffusion in normal and globally-ischemic rat brain via 133Cs NMR. Magn Reson Med 1996 35:329-335.