David John Irwin, MD, MTR

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Assistant Professor of Neurology
Department: Neurology
Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Department of Neurology
3400 Spruce Street, 3 W Gates
Philadelphia, Pa 19104
Office: 215-573-6417
Fax: 215-349-5579
Lab: 215-573-1912
Education:
BA
Drew University, 2001.
MD
Drexel University College of Medicine, 2006.
MTR
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 2015.
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Description of Research Expertise

The overall mission of my translational research program is to improve the diagnosis and treatment for young-onset and atypical neurodegenerative dementias. A major limitation for therapeutic trials in these disorders is that the gold-standard for diagnosis is neuropathological examination at autopsy. To address this problem, my lab (Penn Digital Neuropathology Lab) develops novel open-source digital image analysis tools to study gold-standard histopathology in an objective and reproducible manner with rigorous validation. My lab utilizes both innovative “wet-lab” human brain histology techniques and novel “dry-lab” digital image analysis methods and bioinformatics to integrate fine-grained measures of postmortem neuropathology with antemortem clincial data. My goal is to identify diagnostic and prognostic markers of disease progression that can serve as endpoints in treatment trials. The approach of my lab represents the blending of my training in two separate but complementary specialties of cognitive neurology and neuropathology.
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Last updated: 03/25/2024
The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania