Chief, Neuroimmunological Diseases Section
Education:
M.D., 1993, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Biography
Dr. Bielekova received an M.D. in 1993 from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. After a medical internship at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and a neurology residency at Boston University, she did a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the NINDS Neuroimmunology Branch (NIB). She remained at NIB for an additional 5 years as a staff physician, focusing on development of novel therapies for MS. In 2005, she became associate professor of neurology with tenure and director of the Waddell Center for MS at University of Cincinnati. In 2008, she moved back to NINDS as an investigator. In 2018, Dr. Bielekova transferred as a senior investigator to NIAID. Her laboratory is studying mechanisms of immunoregulation and immune-mediated CNS tissue injury in MS and other neuroimmunological diseases with a long-term goal of developing effective therapies. In addition, Dr. Bielekova is a principal investigator on several innovative protocols including adaptively designed Phase I/II clinical trials.