2024 RLS Research Grant was awarded to:
Dr. Imad Ghorayeb, MD, PhD
Dr. Ghorayeb completed his PhD at the University of Bordeaux in 2001. As a neurologist and sleep specialist, his primary interest was in the understanding of sleep disorders in neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and familial fatal insomnia through a translational approach based on clinical investigation in patients and animal modeling of human disease. His basic research focused on generating animal models of MSA to understand sleep disorders in PD and the role of the dopaminergic depletion. RLS soon emerged as a novel and interesting field of his study because of its uncertain pathophysiology, in which dopamine appears to be a central actor. From animal models, Dr. Ghorayeb’s research shifted to the clinical aspects of the syndrome, and he has become a nationally recognized expert in RLS diagnosis and management.
Dr. Shawn Hochman, PhD
Dr. Hochman is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology in the School of Medicine at Emory University. Has a long history of studies on the physiological control of spinal functional systems and their plasticity, with a multisystem perspective on spinal cord functional systems. His broad research interest is in dysfunction in spinal sensorimotor integration (spinal cord injury, pain, autonomic dysreflexia, locomotor function and RLS). For the past 20 years, his studies have focused on neuromodulation-based plasticity focusing on the biogenic amine modulators serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine. These transmitters have been linked to activation of the spinal cord circuitry generating locomotion, control of autonomic nervous system function, and the potent inhibition of spinal cord pain systems. Dysfunction in spinal dopamine is also implicated in the emergence of RLS.
Dr. Brian Koo, MD
Dr. Koo is the director for the Yale Center for Restless Legs Syndrome, a certified RLS Quality Care Center; a member of the Foundation’s Scientific and Medical Advisory Board; and the medical director of the Sleep Laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System. He is an associate professor of neurology at Yale University and has been an active member of task forces and section committees related to the sleep-related movement disorders in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Koo is board certified in both neurology and sleep medicine, and much of his research lies in those categories. His research on RLS and periodic leg movements of sleep (PLMS) includes animal modeling, epidemiology, proteomics and genetic analysis.
Dr. Mauro Manconi, MD, PhD
Dr. Manconi is director of the Sleep Medicine Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, a certified RLS Quality Care Center. He teaches as Professor at the Master School of Medicine at Bern University (UNIBER), and at the Biomedical School at Swiss University of Lugano (USI). Dr. Manconi's research focuses on sleep disorders, specifically sleep-related movement disorders such as RLS and PLMS, and he served on the scientific board of the European Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (EURLSSG, and he is vice-president of the International RLS Study Group. On the RLS Foundation Scientific and Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Manconi is an active member of the Medical Bulletin, Revised Treatment Consensus and Quality Care Center Certification committees.