Brian Gary Weinshenker, MD
Neurology
Additional Locations
Bio & Overview
Brian G. Weinshenker, MD, came to UVA Health’s neurology department in 2022 with 35 years of experience practicing. He spent the last 30 years as a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
He received his medical degree at the University of Manitoba in 1978, where he also trained in internal medicine. He trained in neurology at the University of Minnesota. He completed subspecialty training and conducted multiple sclerosis research at the University of Western Ontario. He practiced for four years in Ottawa, Canada before joining the Mayo Clinic in 1992.
Dr. Weinshenker has over 250 peer-reviewed publications and was listed as a highly cited researcher by Clarivate in 2016, 2017, and 2021. He has been a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded investigator and has served on multiple professional committees for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation (for neuromyelitis optica), and multiple data safety monitoring boards and attack adjudication committees.
He conducted a definitive clinical trial establishing the effectiveness of plasma exchange as a rescue treatment for severe attacks of acute demyelinating disease, a treatment now used worldwide. He recognized the key differences between multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica, developed the first diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica, and was part of the team that discovered the diagnostic biomarker, AQP4-IgG, that is used worldwide to test for this condition. He was awarded the John Dystel Prize for multiple sclerosis research in 2011.
Academic Information
- Department
- Neurology
- Academic Role
- Professor
- Division
- Neurology
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- French, Hebrew, English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine
- Residency
- University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine
- Certification
- American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine)
Highlights
Meet Neurologist Brian Weinshenker, MD
My name is Brian Weinshenker, I'm a neurologist at the University of Virginia. The majority of patients I see have a condition called MS, which is a very common condition. About 1 in 500 people in the northern United States have MS. But I also see people with other autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system, for example, autoimmune encephalitis, and I'm quite interested in patients who have inflammation in the spinal cord or transverse myelitis. A lot of these conditions are very treatable and very recognizable now. This is something that was not possible when I started my career. What I like about neurology most is the mystery of the presentation of the patients. There's so many different symptoms, numbness, tingling, memory problems. And just having to sort those out, integrate them, utilize the neurologic examination, which is really a very elegant examination, to figure out what the problems are. What can patients expect when they come to see me? I'd love to tell them that I can cure them all, but what I can promise is they will have my undivided attention, and that I will be completely focused on the problem that they come in with. I find it critical to identify what is your concern and can we get to the root of the particular problem that you're having.
Awards
- 2023 Giant of Multiple Sclerosis® for Patient Care by NeurologyLive® and the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC)
- 2011 John Dystel Prize, American Academy of Neurology/National Multiple Sclerosis Society