Dr. J. Marc Simard is the Bizhan Aarabi Professor of Neurosurgery, Pathology and Physiology, and is interim Chair, Department of Physiology, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He also serves as Chief of Neurological Surgery at the Baltimore Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Simard is responsible for the original discovery of the SUR1-TRPM4 channel, and for initiating the work showing involvement of the channel in multiple acute diseases of the CNS, including stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, as well as chronic conditions such multiple sclerosis and neuropathic pain. His work on the SUR1-TRPM4 channel has led to the award of over 33 US and international patents