Susan A. Slaugenhaupt

Dr. Slaugenhaupt is the Scientific Director of the Mass General Research Institute, a strategic initiative that supports the entire research enterprise at MGH to foster and sustain medical innovation.   She is also a Professor in the Department of Neurology at MGH and HMS, and an Investigator in the Center for Genomic Medicine. Dr. Slaugenhaupt’s research focuses on two neurological disorders, familial dysautonomia (FD) and mucolipidosis type IV (MLIV), as well as the common cardiac disorder mitral valve prolapse (MVP). Discoveries in Dr. Slaugenhaupt’s laboratory have led to the successful implementation of critical population screening for FD and MLIV, and to the development of a treatment for FD that directly targets the mRNA splicing mechanism.  Dr. Slaugenhaupt spearheads several programs and educational initiatives at Mass General, including a thriving undergraduate summer internship program. Her Research Institute team works to promote science at Mass General by increasing interactions with industry, by fundraising for Research Institute initiatives, including partnering with individual philanthropists, their families and foundations and by promoting Mass General research to the community through events and social media. She also co-directs the Partners Biobank at Mass General, an exciting initiative that will speed the translation of research discoveries into improved clinical care for patients.  In 2013, Dr. Slaugenhaupt was named the Elizabeth Riley and Dan E. Smith, Jr. MGH Research Scholar. In 2016, she was honored with a prestigious Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at NIH, and in 2016 she was named one of the Top Ten Women to Watch in Science and Technology by the Boston Business Journal.