Kathryn Fitzgerald, PhD
Dr. Fitzgerald is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. She earned her Doctor of Science in epidemiology at Harvard University, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in neuroimmunology and neurological infections at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research interests include how genetics, metabolic changes, hormones, environmental factors and comorbid conditions affect how MS-related disability changes over time. She previously led studies evaluating genetic predictors of retinal atrophy in people with MS using optical coherence tomography and loss of low contrast letter acuity. She also led studies that have demonstrated that retinal measures can be used to predict 10-year disability in people with MS. Other notable work has characterized the association between vitamin D status and sodium excretion and rate of brain lesion development on magnetic resonance imaging in large cohorts of patients with MS.