Dr. Jiwon Oh | BARLO the Time is Now

Dr. Jiwon Oh

Dr. Jiwon Oh

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Scientist, Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto


Dr. Jiwon Oh is among the only researchers in the world using multiple advanced imaging techniques – including diffusion tensor imaging, magnetization transfer imaging and functional MRI – to explore the impact of multiple sclerosis on spinal cord tissue.

It’s all in service of helping her predict who will and won’t develop MS, even before symptoms appear. Early diagnosis means early treatment, with drugs matched to each patient’s needs.

The potential is awesome. “We’re hoping that the better insight we have into this stage, the more likely we’ll be to develop treatments that can prevent the disease before it begins,” she says.

Advanced imaging is also helping Dr. Oh develop greater insight into how the disease progresses which in turn can provide specific targets for drugs. “We really need treatments to repair what has already been damaged,” says Dr. Oh.

Dr. Oh, who came to St. Michael’s in 2014 after a clinical fellowship in neurology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, is also setting the stage for other researchers to develop better treatment for people who already have MS.

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