Dr Waubant trained as a neurologist in Toulouse, France. She continued her training as a neuroimmunology fellow in Dr Stephen Hauser’s UCSF laboratory, focusing on matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMP), and their role in migration of lymphocytes through equivalents of the blood-brain barrier. In 1994, Dr Waubant returned to Toulouse to complete her 2-year junior faculty/chief residency in neurology. Dr Waubant later returned as a clinical research fellow at the UCSF MS Center with Dr Donald Goodkin. During that 3-year period, she furthered her in vitro MMP work to the study in the human disease that helped to understand the role of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in patients with MS and their relationship to disease activity. After completing her clinical research training at the UCSF MS center, Dr Waubant returned to France to lead a clinical research center at Salpetriere Hospital in Paris for 2 years. She returned to the UCSF MS center in September 2001 as a faculty. She is also the Race to Erase MS Medical Director and coordinates clinical research collaborations between 6 American MS Centers of Excellence. With the support of the National MS Society, she has started a regional pediatric MS clinic at UCSF in January 2006 that she directs and has since seen over 350 patients with pediatric MS or related disorders. She is the editor of the first text book on Pediatric MS and related disorders. Dr Waubant is At-large Board Director and on the program committee of the the American Committee on Treatment and Research in MS and the Chair of the U.S. Pediatric MS Steering Committee. She is also chairing the international Clinical Trial Task Force for pediatric MS.
Dr Waubant’s specific interests include the translation of promising agents from the bench to the bedside, understanding factors that predict the response to MS therapies, and risk factors for pediatric MS susceptibility and disease modification. Currently, she is the co-lead investigator for a trial of vitamin D in relapsing-remitting MS sponsored by the NMSS and is the recipient of a large multicenter NIH grant to study risk factors in pediatric MS and their interactions. Dr. Waubant is also a very active mentor for junior investigators.