W. Dalton Dietrich, III, PH.D.

Neuroprotection and Improved Recovery of Function following Brain and Spinal Cord Injury

Research in Dr. Dietrich’s laboratory is focused on clarifying the pathophysiology of brain and spinal cord injury with the ultimate goal of developing new therapies to protect and enhance recovery of function. Over the last 40 years, Dr. Dietrich and colleagues have studied the cellular and molecular injury mechanism underlying various neurological disorders including stroke, cardiac arrest, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. In terms of neuroprotection, he and his colleagues provided the initial preclinical data indicating that small differences in the temperature of the brain and spinal cord critically determine whether neurons die or not following neurological injury. These preclinical studies of therapeutic hypothermia have been successfully translated to the clinical arena, where patients are being cooled following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, strokes, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Most recently, Dr. Dietrich and colleagues have investigated the importance of abnormal inflammasome activation in the brain and spinal cord after injury. These studies have uncovered a new therapeutic target for modifying the immediate immune response to injury. In addition to these studies, Dr. Dietrich and colleagues are using novel cellular and drug treatments to promote reparative processes and functional recovery after brain and SCI. He is the Sponsor of a first-in-man FDA approved clinical trial testing the safety of human Schwann cell transplants in people with severe SCI and a peripheral nerve bridging strategy for severe leg trauma.  Most recently, Dr. Dietrich and colleagues are investigating the use of human adult cells derived exosomes as a novel strategy to protect and repair the nervous system after injury.

Dr. Dietrich has published over 425 refereed journal articles, 77 book chapters and 4 books. His published work has been cited over 52,000 times and has an h-index of 1114 (Google Scholar). He has been listed by the Institute of Scientific Information as a “Highly Cited Researcher”, placing him in the top 0.5% of all scientists based on the impact his research has made on other scientists. Dr. Dietrich has been a thesis/dissertation advisor to 15 graduate students and has trained over 50 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars from all over the world. His research programs are supported by the NIH, Department of Defense, Veteran’s Administration, State of Florida and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. In 2023, Dr. Dietrich received the Javits Neuroscience Award for demonstrating scientific excellence and productivity in neurological research.  He serves on many study sections for NIH, Department of Defense, Veteran’s Administration, and several Editorial Boards. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Therapeutic Hypothermia & Temperature Management and Deputy Editor of the Journal of Neurotrauma. Dr. Dietrich is a founding member of InflamaCore, LLC and serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee for ZyVersa Therapeutics, Inc.