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Dr. Michael Kaplitt is an expert and innovator in gene therapy who was among the first scientists to publish on the use of viruses for direct gene delivery in the living brain. Dr. Kaplitt published a breakthrough study on the use of defective herpes simplex virus vectors in the brain, and along with Dr. During, he was the lead author on the first publication reporting on the use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors in the brain.
Dr. Kaplitt is currently Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurosurgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is also Clinical Assistant Attending, Division of Neurosurgery, Dept. of Surgery at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Adjunct Faculty, Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at The Rockefeller University. In addition to his neurosurgical practice and laboratory research, Dr. Kaplitt has received several awards for his work and has authored more than 40 papers and book chapters on gene therapy and stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, including articles which have appeared in scientific magazines such as Nature Genetics and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Following his neurosurgical residency, Dr. Kaplitt completed a fellowship in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery with Dr. Andres Lozano at the University of Toronto, where he received sub-specialty training in surgery for Parkinson's Disease, other movement disorders, pain and epilepsy. Dr. Kaplitt, together with Dr. Arthur Loewy, edited an internationally recognized book on the subject of gene therapy in the brain, titled "Viral Vectors" and published by Academic Press. Due to the success of the first volume, Dr. Kaplitt and Dr. During are currently working on a revised volume at the request of the publisher. Dr. Kaplitt graduated magna cum laude in molecular biology from Princeton University.
Dr. Kaplitt received his MD degree from Cornell University School of Medicine in 1995, where he completed his residency in Neurosurgery. Dr. Kaplitt also received a Ph.D. degree in molecular neurobiology from Rockefeller University, where he performed his groundbreaking work in viral gene transfer to the brain. | 