Henry Kaminski

Dr. Henry Kaminski is the Jeffrey Lieberman Professor of Neurosciences at George Washington University, For over 25 years, he has performed clinical, translational, and basic research on the rare autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, with support from the NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America. He served on the executive committee of MGTX, the NIH-funded clinical trial that established the efficacy of thymectomy in generalized myasthenia gravis. One of the few studies in history to test the efficacy of a surgery in a randomized, blinded fashion. His preclinical studies defined the role of complement in disease pathogenesis and helped lay the foundation for the development of complement inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy. As clinical director of the Laboratory for MG Research, Dr. Kaminski oversees with his long-time collaborator Linda Kusner of the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology a broad portfolio of investigations, including targeted elimination of autoreactive cells, identification of novel autoantibodies in thymoma-associated MG, exploration of biological aging as a mechanism for autoimmunity, and the development of digital twin technologies to advance precision medicine. Dr. Kaminski has developed a new line of research to enhance digital biomarkers for myasthenia gravis based on analysis of video examinations of patients via telemedicine. In 2019, Dr. Kaminski established MGNet the NIH Rare Disease Clinical Research Network focused on myasthenia gravis.