Professional Bio
Dr. Ciafaloni is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, NY. She is the Program Director of the Neuromuscular Medicine Fellowship Program and Co-Director of the MDA Clinic there.
She graduated from Medical School at the Universita' Statale di Milano, in Milano, Italy.
She trained at Columbia University in mitochondrial diseases with Dr. Salvatore Di Mauro and his group, then at Duke University where she completed her Neurology Residency and EMG Fellowships with Dr. Janice Massey and Donald Sanders and remained on the Faculty until 2002 when she accepted a position at the University of Rochester.
Her current commitments include: clinical trials in periodic paralyses, myasthenia gravis, dermatomyositis, FSHD, Duchenne and myotonic dystrophy; teaching Neuromuscular and EMG fellows; attending in the EMG laboratory; diagnosis and care of patients with neuromuscular diseases, especially with ALS, myasthenia gravis, Duchenne, and spinal muscular atrophy.
She has a clinical research interest in the course and outcome of pregnancy in women with muscular dystrophy and sleep disorders in neuromuscular diseases.
She has been involved in clinical care, research, education and advocacy related to neuromuscular diseases for the past 15 years. Her background as Principal Investigator for several national and international multi-center trials includes: Thymectomy in myasthenia gravis, CellCept in myasthenia gravis, Dichlorphenamide (DCP) in periodic paralyses; Mexiletine in myotonia congenita; and Ataluren (PTC124) in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Most recently she became a Site Investigator for the NINDS comparative study of treatments in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy led by Dr. Robert Griggs here at the University of Rochester and Dr. Kate Bushby.
