Allison Brashear is an American neurologist. As of October 2021, she has accepted a position as Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the

Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, also known as Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is a public medical school in the city of Buffalo, New York at the University at Buffalo. Founded in 1846, it is on ...

at the University at Buffalo, New York. Her last day as dean of the

UC Davis School of Medicine The University of California Davis School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of California, Davis. Although the parent institution is near Davis, California, the medical school is in Sacramento, California. History Founded in 196 ...

is November 12, 2021 and she previously served as the Walter C. Teagle Endowed Chair of Neurology at

Wake Forest School of Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, with two campuses located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with Atrium Health Wake Forest B ...

Early life and education

Brashear was born into a medical family; her father was a pulmonologist and her mother held a PhD in marriage and family therapy. She attended

Park Tudor School Park Tudor School is a coeducational independent college preparatory day school founded in 1902. It offers programs from junior kindergarten through high school. It is located in the Meridian Hills neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. A mer ...

in Indiana and later earned their Distinguished Alumni award. Following high school, Brashear earned her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in Chemistry from

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

in 1983 and earned her medical degree from

Indiana University School of Medicine The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is a major multi-campus medical school in the state of Indiana. There are nine campuses throughout the state; the principal research and medical center is located on the Indiana University–Purdu ...

Career

Upon earning her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine, Brashear stayed at the institution as a professor of neurology until 2005. During her tenure at Indiana University, Brashear was the first person to show that

Botulinum toxin Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum'' and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon endings at the neuromusc ...

improved spasticity in wrists and fingers in stroke patients. As a result of her research, she was chosen to succeed B. Todd Troost as chairwoman of the Department of Neurology at

. While working at Wake Forest, Brashear continued her studies on Botulinum toxin and was selected to develop new guidelines on the use of Botox by

American Academy of Neurology The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is a professional society representing over 38,000 neurologists and neuroscientists. As a medical specialty society it was established in 1948 by A.B. Baker of the University of Minnesota to advance the ar ...

. In 2008, the guidelines released by the organization confirmed that botox was safe and effective for treating a variety of neurological conditions. In the same year, she was also elected to the board of directors of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the recipient of the 2008 Community Leadership Award. Brashear expanded her research beyond Botulinum toxin and earned a grant from the

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). It conducts and funds research on brain and nervous system disorders and has a budget of just over US$2.03 billion. The ...

to study the genetic mutation of

ATP1A3 Sodium/potassium-transporting ATPase subunit alpha-3 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''ATP1A3'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the family of P-type cation transport ATPases, and to the subfamily of ...

. The results of her research project, which surveyed 56 individuals, found that there was a shared genetic link between psychiatric problems and movement disorders. In 2019, Brashear left Wake Forest to become the Dean of the

by Chancellor

Gary S. May Gary Stephen May (born May 17, 1964) is the chancellor of the University of California, Davis. From May 2005 to June 2011, he was the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He served as ...

. While serving in this role, she has sat on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American Neurological Association, the American Academy of Neurology, and the

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition 71: the Research and Cures Initiative, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California ...

Board. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in North America The first cases of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 in North America were reported in the United States on 23 January 2020. Cases were reported in all North American countries after Saint Kitts and Nevis confirmed a case on 2 ...

, Brashear was elected to the McKnight Brain Research Foundation board to work to alleviate age-related memory loss. Brashear's last day as the Dean of the

was November 12, 2021. She accepted a position as Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, New York.

Personal life

Brashear is married to attorney Clifford Ong and they have two children together.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brashear, Allison Living people American neurologists Women neurologists Fuqua School of Business alumni DePauw University alumni Indiana University School of Medicine alumni University of California, Davis faculty Wake Forest University faculty Indiana University School of Medicine faculty 21st-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics