Charcot Marie Tooth Disease - CMT Disease - Hereditary Neuropathy

Director, Research
The Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California

David E. Pleasure, MD is Professor of Neurology 2005 and Pediatrics 2006 at UC Davis and Director of Research at The Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California. His clinical training was in neurology. In recent years, his clinical practice has emphasized denervating and demyelinating diseases of childhood.
Prior to moving to UC Davis, Dr. Pleasure was successful in two substantive administrative roles at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine—a) from 1994 to 2000. He led the conversion of a small, clinically focused pediatric neurology program into one of the leading research-oriented pediatric neurology training programs in the USA; and b) from 1998 to 2004, he directed the Stokes Research institute and served as Senior VP for Research at CHOP; during that interval, their rate of increase in extramural support was greater than 20%/year, compounded, and reached approximately $135,000,000/year (the majority from NIH) by 2005. The success of their research institute contributed to CHOP’s current ranking as the most respected pediatric hospital in the USA.
Two years ago, Dr. Pleasure stepped down from his position as Senior VP for Research at CHOP and became a Professor of Neurology (2005) and Pediatrics (2006) at UC Davis and Director of Research at The Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California. By orchestrating collaborative interactions between the UC Davis School of Medicine and Shriners Hospitals for Children, he founded a new institute, the Institute for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine (IPRM), and has recruited 7 new independent investigators to the IPRM. These investigators hold faculty appointments at UC Davis and Shriners Research appointments.
Dr. Pleasure’s research deals with neural development and regeneration, and has been continuously funded by NIH and by foundations since 1970. The present focus of his research is on the role of radial glia in central nervous system regeneration. His teaching and mentorship has been largely at the medical student and postdoctoral fellowship level. At the University of Pennsylvania, he successfully applied for, directed, and renewed 3 NIH institutional postdoctoral fellowship programs. He is proud to share that most of the trainees supported by these programs have gone on to achieve independent investigator status. Two predoctoral fellows are currently conducting thesis research in his lab, and he is also currently mentoring 3 postdoctoral fellows.