People Profile

Wong named Green Professor of Pediatric Neurology

Michael Wong, MD, PhD, has been named the Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Professor of Pediatric Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Wong sees patients with pediatric epilepsy at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and specializes in basic research into the origins of the illness. Pediatric epilepsy can be caused by genetic mutations and brain injury, and Wong’s studies have produced important insight into both.

“Many of these conditions are very difficult to treat, but Dr. Wong is gathering new insight and evidence that will enable us to create effective therapies,” said Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD, the A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Professor of Neurology and director of the Division of Pediatric and Developmental Neurology.

Wong’s accomplishments include important discoveries about how seizures damage the branches of nerve cells in mice. This is a critical step on the road to finding ways to moderate or prevent such damage.

Wong, originally from New York, graduated from Princeton in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, and received his medical degree and a doctorate in neuroscience in 1995 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He was a resident in pediatric neurology at Washington University from 1996-99, a fellow in pediatric neurology from 1999-2001, and became an instructor in neurology in 2001.

“I am deeply honored to be named the new Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Professor of Pediatric Neurology,” Wong said. “Since coming to Washington University, I have been fortunate to learn from and work with so many outstanding clinicians and scientists who have greatly influenced my career.”

Wong is regularly included among the Best Doctors in America, an annual list that identifies specialists considered by their peers to be the most skilled in their fields.

Other honors have included the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance Senior Investigator Award, the CURE Challenge/Falk Medical Research Trust Award and the American Academy of Neurology’s Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award.

About the Greens

The Green Professorship was established in 1975 with a grant from the Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Foundation, which has a history of strong support of medical research, especially in pediatric neurology, Parkinson’s disease and other diseases of the nervous system. When the foundation made the commitment to fund the professorship, it was believed to be the first in pediatric neurology in the country.

The foundation was created by the Greens in 1941. Allen P. Green was the founder and chairman of the A.P. Green Fire Brick Co. based in Mexico, Mo. During his lifetime, he built the largest single brick and clay product manufacturing plant in the world. At the time of his death in 1956, the company had branches in Canada, South America and England.