Faculty Research

Lewis B. Morgenstern, MD (lmorgens@umich.edu)
Professor of Neurology,
Neurosurgery and Emergency Medicine
Director of the Stroke Program

Dr. Morgenstern's research involves three main areas. The first involves elucidating health disparities with respect to stroke. Dr. Morgenstern is the principal investigator of an NIH R01 funded through January 2009 with a budget in excess of 4.5 million dollars. This project is the first to examine stroke in Mexican Americans. Results show that Mexican Americans, depending upon age, have between a 12 and 104% increased risk of stroke compared to non-Hispanic whites.

The second major area of Dr. Morgenstern's research is increasing delivery of acute stroke therapy through scientifically-based health behavior change. Dr. Morgenstern was the principal investigator of the TLL Temple Foundation Stroke Project which received international recognition as the first to demonstrate that a community intervention could result in a dramatic increase in treatment of acute stroke patients. This project has served as the model for a current NIH grant for a randomized study of professional education to increase acute stroke therapy in Michigan hospitals. Dr. Morgenstern is currently principal investigator of an NIH funded study aimed at increasing acute stroke therapy through a school-based health promotion project.

The third area of research is in the acute treatment of intracerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Morgenstern chaired an international NINDS sponsored workshop to set priorities for clinical research in intracerebral hemorrhage. He is currently pursuing a treatment trial of blood pressure control in acute intracerebral hemorrhage.