Dr. Thomas H. Brannagan III Receives 2023 Clinician of the Year Award
The Department of Neurology in the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is pleased to announce Thomas H. Brannagan III, MD as the 2023 Clinician of the Year. Dr. Brannagan is a professor of neurology at CUMC and directs both the Peripheral Neuropathy Center and the Columbia Neuropathy Research Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC). Dr. Brannagan also serves as co-director of the Electromyography (EMG) Laboratory.
Dr. Brannagan was nominated for this annual honor by a committee of his peers, in recognition of his exceptional achievements in patient care, clinical trials research, and the education and mentorship of future neuromuscular medicine specialists. According to one nominator, “Dr. Brannagan’s expertise in the field of neuropathies is highly valued both within our department and recognized regionally, nationally, and internationally.” Among his colleagues, Dr. Brannagan is “a bedrock clinician, educator, and clinical trialist in the neurology department. He has consistently been an esteemed and popular neuromuscular clinician. Due to his outstanding reputation as a peripheral neurology expert, his clinical practice has been consistently filled with regional and national referrals.”
“Complementing his clinical practice, Dr. Brannagan’s clinical trial work focuses on peripheral neuropathies due to autoimmunity, genetic defects, and toxins,” explains a nominator. “His clinical research has contributed significantly and directly to improve patient care. Most recently, Dr. Brannagan helped advance treatment for patients with hereditary transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis, a multisystem disease affecting both autonomic and peripheral nerves, as well as the heart. This disease was uniformly fatal and required liver transplantation for a modest survival benefit, but as a direct result of Dr. Brannagan’s clinical trials research, in collaboration with Columbia Cardiology, hereditary TTR amyloidosis now has FDA-approved treatments available.”
In addition to his commitment to patients and research, Dr. Brannagan is known as an “outstanding teacher and role model” to countless neurology residents and neuromuscular medicine fellows. On a personal level, Dr. Brannagan is “always available for advice regarding patients, lecturing and teaching to residents, fellows and students, and is known as a thoughtful colleague and compassionate physician to his patients,” notes a nominator.
The Department of Neurology faculty and staff could not agree more! Congratulations to Dr. Brannagan on this well-deserved honor!