Avindra Nath

Avindra "Avi" Nath (born December 1, 1958), is a physician-scientist who specializes in neuroimmunology. Nath is a senior investigator, and intramural clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States. At NINDS, Nath also leads the Section of Infections of the Nervous System and plans to institute a translational research center.

Training and career Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Nath attended Christian Medical College, Ludhiana in Punjab, India.

Nodding Syndrome Nodding syndrome is a form of epilepsy endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The cause of the disease remains unknown, however epidemiologic studies identified an association between nodding syndrome and river blindness, a disease caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus. In a 2017 publication in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Dr. Nath and colleagues implicated an autoimmune reaction to O. volvulus as a potential cause of the disease.

Honors In 2012, Nath was presented with the Pioneer in NeuroVirology Award by the International Society for NeuroVirology (ISNV) at the 11th International Symposium on NeuroVirology held in New York, New York, USA. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2023, he was invited to deliver the fourth Sharwaree Gokhale Memorial Lecture at the Indian Institute of Science. Nath was included in the Time's 2024 list of most influential people in health and was elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2024.