The 20 Best Primary Lateral Sclerosis Doctors Near Me in Bethesda, MD
Find the Top Primary Lateral Sclerosis Experts and Specialists
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Nicholas Maragakis treats patients with motor neuron diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This care is coordinated with the Johns Hopkins Center for ALS Specialty Care, a multidisciplinary clinic with expertise in treating patients with ALS and providing support to their caregivers. He serves as medical director of the ALS Clinical Trials Unit, an extension of the multidisciplinary clinic that seeks to facilitate opportunities for patients with ALS to participate in clinical trials that could advance the treatment of this disease. Dr. Maragakis is interested in the basic science of understanding neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the translational potential of therapeutic compounds developed in the laboratory. His fundamental research interest is in using stem cells — more specifically, stem cell-derived motor neurons and glia — for understanding the development and propagation of ALS. His laboratory has been involved in creating and characterizing lines of stem cells from patients with ALS using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) methodologies. The laboratory has a large library of iPSCs from patients with familial ALS and from patients with sporadic ALS. The utilization of this library of iPSCs has facilitated the development of a spinal cord-specific iPSC-astrocyte/motor neuron co-culture system, which has been leveraged for the development of assays that can be used for both the basic understanding of ALS astrocyte and motor neuron biology as well as, eventually, drug screening for ALS therapeutics. His laboratory has taken its long-standing interests in astrocyte biology, as it relates to ALS, to develop a program that investigates astrocyte-specific mechanisms as contributors to the progression (both temporally and anatomically) of disease in ALS. In this vein, there is an interest in astrocytic glutamate transporters and, more recently, astrocyte hemichannels and gap junctions. Dr. Maragakis is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 7 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Primary Lateral Sclerosis, 15q11.2 Microdeletion, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Tom Crawford has been a member of the Department of Neurology since 1987. He is co-director of the MDA clinic for Neuromuscular Disorders and Neurologist for the Ataxia Telangiectasia Clinical Center at Johns Hopkins. His practice involves general child neurology with a principal interest in caring for children with neuromuscular, neuromotor, and ataxic disorders. Primary research interests involve the basic science and clinical characterization of two important neurologic disorders that affect children: Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Ataxia Telangiectasia. He is also actively involved in the Biology of neurofilaments by characterization of transgenic animal models. He is on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and the Medical Advisory Committee for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He is the Neurologist for the Ataxia Telangiectasia Clinical Center at Johns Hopkins, which has evaluated almost half of the known patients with this disorder in the United States. Additional specific clinical interests include evaluation and treatment of children with brachial plexus palsies. Dr. Crawford received his medical degree from the University of Southern California. He completed a pediatric internship and residency at the Pediatric Pavilion of the Los Angeles County / University of Southern California Medical Center, followed by a pediatric chief residency. He completed his training in Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology at the Los Angeles Childrens Hospital. He then traveled east to the laboratory of Dr John Griffin at Johns Hopkins for a fellowship in Neuromuscular Disorders. Prior to medical training and Neurology residency, he majored in Psychology and Religion at Yale College. Dr. Crawford has published extensively and presented nationally and internationally. He has an active role in teaching medical students and residents in neurology. In addition, Dr. Crawford has special interest and experience in EMG studies of children and adults. Dr. Crawford is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 13 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Ataxia-Telangiectasia, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2. Dr. Crawford is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology and American Board Of Pediatrics.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Charlotte Sumner is a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Sumner cares for patients with genetically-mediated neuromuscular diseases. Her practice is notable for a focus on individuals with inherited neuromuscular disorders of peripheral nerves and motor neurons, including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. She co-directs the Johns Hopkins Muscular Dystrophy Association Care Center, the Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and the Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) clinics, which deliver multidisciplinary clinical care, engage in international natural history studies, and provide cutting edge therapeutics. Dr. Sumner’s research focuses on developing treatments for degenerative disorders of motor neurons and peripheral nerves. Her laboratory uses human tissues and induced pluripotent cell lines, mouse models and cultured cells to characterize disease mechanisms and develop treatments. Dr. Charlotte Sumner received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine following undergraduate studies at Princeton University. She completed internal medicine internship and neurology residency at the University of California San Francisco, after which she returned to the east coast for a neuromuscular fellowship at Johns Hopkins and a neurogenetics fellowship in the Neurogenetics Branch at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. She joined the neurology faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2006. Dr. Sumner is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 24 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2, and Gastrostomy. Dr. Sumner is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Kenneth Fischbeck is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Fischbeck is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 16 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Primary Lateral Sclerosis, and Progressive Myoclonic Epilepsy.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Neurologist Payam Mohassel specializes in myopathies, muscular dystrophies, and other hereditary neuromuscular disorders and is the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center. Dr. Mohassel obtained his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he remained for a medical internship, residency training in neurology, and clinical fellowship training in neuromuscular medicine. He then joined the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Neurogenetics branch as a clinical research fellow. Dr. Mohassel’s research focuses on translational studies on neuromuscular disorders, and it spans gene discovery efforts, mechanistic studies to identify therapeutic targets, and early phase interventional clinical trials. Dr. Mohassel is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 11 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Hereditary Sensory Neuropathy Type 1 (HSN1), and Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy Type 2. Dr. Mohassel is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Nathan Crone focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of seizures and epilepsy, including the surgical treatment of epilepsy. He is also one of the attending physicians in the Epilepsy monitoring unit. Dr. Crone''s research interests include the real-time mapping of brain function to reduce the possibility of impacting brain function during surgery for epilepsy. He received his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He then completed his residency in neurology at the University of Chicago and fellowships in epilepsy and cognitive neurology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Crone is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 10 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Seizures, Epilepsy, Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizure, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), and Deep Brain Stimulation. Dr. Crone is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
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Mary Floeter is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Floeter is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 5 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Frontotemporal Dementia, and Pseudobulbar Affect.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Scholz is a neurologist and geneticist specializing in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, atypical parkinsonism and dementia syndromes. She received her medical degree from the Medical University Innsbruck, Austria. Following graduation, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health under the supervision of Drs. Andrew Singleton and John Hardy. She obtained a Ph.D. in neurogenomics from the University College London, UK in 2010. She then moved to Baltimore to complete her neurology residency training at Johns Hopkins. In 2015 Dr. Scholz received the McFarland Transition to Independence Award for Neurologist-Scientists. She is Lasker Clinical Research Scholar at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke focusing on genetic causes of neurodegenerative syndromes, and an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins' department of neurology. Dr. Scholz is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 17 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), Multiple System Atrophy, Movement Disorders, and Parkinson's Disease.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Abdullah AlQahtani specializes in inherited and noninherited neuromuscular neurological diseases. Dr. AlQahtani obtained his medical degree from the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. He also completed an internship and earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and he obtained residency training in neurology at the University Hospitals of Cleveland-Case Western Reserve University and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. After completing a neuromuscular fellowship at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. AlQahtani joined the neurogenetics branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He worked on natural history studies of disease progression and phenotype-genotype correlation. His research focuses on the identification of biomarkers of disease progression in neuromuscular diseases. Dr. Alqahtani is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 3 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy, Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease). Dr. Alqahtani is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Ahmet Hoke is Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, W. W. Smith Charitable Trust Professor of Neuroimmunology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Director of the Daniel B. Drachman Division of Neuromuscular Diseases and Director of the Merkin Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Regeneration Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his medical training at Hacettepe University School of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey followed by his PhD studies in developmental neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and neurology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After completing his neuromuscular training at University of Calgary, Canada, he returned to Johns Hopkins University as faculty and rose through the ranks. He is the recipient of several awards including Derek Denny Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award (2005) and Wolfe Neuropathy Research prize (2018) given by the American Neurological Association, Myung Memorial Lecture Award (2017) by the Korean Neurological Association, Nejat Eczacibasi Medical Scientist Award (2019) by the Eczacibasi Foundation, Turkey, and Alan J. Gebhart Prize in Excellence in Neuropathy Research (2022) by the Peripheral Nerve Society. He is an Ex-Officio member of the Board of Directors of the American Neurological Association, and Vice-President of the Toxic Neuropathy Consortium. He serves on several editorial boards and is the Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. Dr. Hoke is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 14 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Wallerian Degeneration, Peripheral Neuropathy, Tomaculous Neuropathy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Arthrogryposis, and Prostatectomy. Dr. Hoke is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Chua is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and Division of Movement Disorders at Johns Hopkins. He received his training at the University of Michigan, where he obtained medical and graduate degrees, then completed a residency in neurology and a combined clinical/research fellowship in movement disorders and neurodegeneration. Dr. Chua’s primary research interests are in neurodegenerative disease with a special focus on autophagy — an essential housekeeping process in cells that is particularly important for the health of neurons. Autophagy may provide a way to break down the buildup of toxic proteins found in neurodegenerative diseases, thereby forming the basis of new treatment strategies for these incurable conditions. He has received multiple research grants to support his work, including from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). He is the primary author and co-author of multiple peer-reviewed scientific publications and online learning modules as part of the AAN. Dr. Chua is a contributing author to The Little Black Book of Neurology by Osama Zaidat, Alan Lerner and J. Douglas Miles, and he has been a peer reviewer for the scientific journals Autophagy, eLife and Neurobiology of Disease. He currently serves on the scientific advisory board for the Don't Forget Morgan Foundation, a private organization supporting research and outreach regarding the disease beta-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration (BPAN). For more information about the Chua Lab, please visit https://chualab.jhmi.edu. Dr. Chua is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 5 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Movement Disorders, and Camptocormism. Dr. Chua is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Johns Hopkins Health Care & Surgery Center - Green Spring Station, Lutherville
Liana Rosenthal, M.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Rosenthal completed medical school at Johns Hopkins with an internship at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She completed her neurology residency and movement disorder fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Rosenthal is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 27 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Movement Disorders, Parkinson's Disease, Olivopontocerebellar Atrophy, and Spinocerebellar Ataxia. Dr. Rosenthal is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Johns Hopkins University
Lindsey Hayes is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Hayes is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 3 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Myasthenia Gravis.
Johns Hopkins Plastic Surg Ass
Vinay Chaudhry is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Chaudhry is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 27 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Myasthenia Gravis, Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 3, and Advanced Bronchoscopy.
National Institutes Of Health
Tanya Lehky is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Lehky is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 8 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Giant Axonal Neuropathy, Peripheral Neuropathy, Chediak-Higashi Syndrome, and Sandhoff Disease.
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James Russell is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Russell is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 10 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Diabetic Neuropathy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Cramp-Fasciculation Syndrome, and Peripheral Neuropathy.
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Neil Porter is a Neurologist practicing medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Porter is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 29 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Myasthenia Gravis, Mononeuritis Multiplex, Multiple Mononeuropathy, Riboflavin Transporter Deficiency Neuronopathy, and Gastrostomy.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Dr. John Krakauer is a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, and Director of the Center for the Study of Motor Learning and Brain Repair at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Krakauer's clinical interest is stroke, including ischemic cerebrovascular disease, subarachnoid and intracerebral hemorrhage, arteriovenous malformation, cerebral vasculitis, cerebral aneurysm, and venous and sinus thrombosis. He received his bachelor's and master's degree from Cambridge University, and his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. After completing an internship in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, he returned to Columbia University for his residency in Neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York. He subsequently completed a research fellowship in motor control in the Center of Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia and a clinical fellowship in stroke at the Neurological Institute at Columbia University Medical Center. Videos I Am Dolphin The Johns Hopkins Hospital Comprehensive Stroke Center Recent News Articles and Media Coverage Helping Hand: Robots, video games, and a radical new approach to treating stroke patients. New Yorker (11/23/15) Watch: How stroke patients can rewire their brains, STAT (11/13/2015) Hopkins' new video game may pave way for stroke therapy, Baltimore Sun (10/15/2014) “I Am Dolphin”: where dolphins, gaming and neuroscience meet, Washington Post (10/10/2014) Could a video game be the key to stroke recovery? National Geographic (9/30/2014) Becoming the Dolphin, Health Canal (08/10/2014) Research On Video Games And Mental Health, NPR's Diane Rehm Show (11/27/2013). Dr. Krakauer is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 1 other condition, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Stroke, Primary Lateral Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease), Spasticity, and Gastrostomy.
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
Dr. Argye Hillis is a professor of Neurology, with joint faculty appointments in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in Cognitive Science. She is also the Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute Professor of Acute Stroke Diagnoses and Management. Prior to medical training and neurology residency, Dr. Hillis worked as a speech-language pathologist, and conducted clinical research focusing on understanding and treating aphasia and hemispatial neglect. She has brought these areas of experience to impact on her clinical research in neurology, which involves cognitive and neuroimaging studies of aphasia and hemispatial neglect due to acute stroke and focal dementias. She has published extensively on these topics in journals and textbooks. Dr. Hillis is Associate Editor of Stroke and has served as Associate editor of Brain, Annals of Neurology, Aphasiology, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Neurocase, Cognitive Neuropsychology, and Language and Cognitive Processes and served as co-Editor and Chief of Behavioral Neurology. Dr. Hillis serves as the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology and the Director of the Cerebrovascular Division of Neurology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Hillis is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. She is also highly rated in 11 other conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Primary Progressive Aphasia, Stroke, Frontotemporal Dementia, Thrombectomy, and Gastrostomy. Dr. Hillis is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
David Newman-Toker, M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally recognized leader in neuro-otology, acute stroke diagnosis, and diagnostic errors research. He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University, his medical degree at University of Pennsylvania, his residency training and neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at Harvard University, his neuro-otology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his doctoral degree in clinical research methods at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has served as a full-time faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine since 2002. He is the David Robinson Professor of Vestibular Neurology and also holds appointments in Otolaryngology, Ophthalmology, Emergency Medicine, Acute Care Nursing, Health Sciences Informatics, Epidemiology, and Health Policy & Management at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Newman-Toker is a bedside-to-populations translational researcher, with a focus on eliminating diagnostic errors and achieving diagnostic excellence. He is a leader in the national and international movements to eliminate patient harms from diagnostic error. Dr. Newman-Toker’s clinical focus is on diagnosis of acute disorders affecting the brainstem and cranial nerves, particularly stroke. He is recognized for his research in novel eye-movement-based bedside methods for diagnosing stroke in patients with acute dizziness and vertigo in the emergency department and, in 2024, won the international Bárány Society’s Hallpike-Nylén Prize for clinical research achievement. Dr. Newman-Toker serves as director of the Division of Neuro-Visual & Vestibular Disorders in the Department of Neurology. He also directs the Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence, whose mission is to catalyze efforts to improve diagnostic performance, develop the science of diagnostic safety, and enhance diagnostic research. He has been the principal investigator on numerous National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and foundation grants. He has published over 165 journal articles and given more than 300 invited lectures. He has served as an expert consultant on diagnostic safety and quality to AHRQ, the National Quality Forum, and the National Academy of Medicine. He has testified before Congress on the use of artificial intelligence for medical diagnosis. He was president of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine from 2018-2020. Dr. Newman is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Lateral Sclerosis. He is also highly rated in 6 other conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Vertigo, Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, Stroke, and Brown Syndrome. Dr. Newman is board certified in American Board Of Psychiatry And Neurology.
Last Updated: 04/28/2026











