Ricardo Roda, M.D., Ph.D.

Director

Dr. Ricardo Roda earned a combined MD/PhD degree from University of Rochester and completed an adult neurology residency, followed by a clinical neuromuscular fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During residency, Dr. Roda developed a special interest in both auto-immune disorders and genetic disorders. Following residency, he spent three years in neurogenetics branch of National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) working with Dr. Craig Blackstone, focusing on the use of the newer DNA sequencing techniques in genetic diagnosis, and in establishing genotype/phenotype correlations neuromuscular disorders. Dr. Roda received a Clinical Scientist Award in Myasthenia Gravis from the American Academy of Neurology/American Brain Foundation. His current clinical interests include developing testing strategies for undiagnosed genetic disorders and myasthenia gravis.

Sameer Masih, AGACNP-BC, MSN

Board-Certified Nurse Practitioner

Sameer joined Johns Hopkins Neurology/Neuromuscular Division in August 2022. He obtained his bachelor's of science degree in nursing from the Nightingale Institute of Nursing in India. In 2021, he completed his master's degree in nursing at Thomas Jefferson University, followed by AGACNP certification from American Nurses Credentialing Center. Sameer has had broad clinical experience in medical-surgical specialties, cardiology, medical ICU and COVID-19 pandemic.

Sashagaye McNamee

Sr. Medical Office Coordinator

Sashagaye has over 8 years of experience as a medical assistant, as well as phlebotomy experiences. She holds an Associate of Arts in General Studies degree. She ensures a smooth operation of the Myasthenia Gravis Clinic by scheduling appointments, maintaining patient information and coordinating clinical tasks, among other duties.

Simone Thomas

Head Research Coordinator

Simone Thomas received her MS degree in Animal Science from the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. She started her professional career working as a scientific collaborator at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne and later worked in the human life sciences programs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) before joining the Neurology department at Johns Hopkins.

Her research includes peripheral neuropathies caused by different underlying etiologies, including metabolic syndrome and neurotoxic chemotherapy agents. She is the Principal Investigator in several clinical natural history studies to better understand peripheral neuropathies. She is also involved in several efforts to develop better outcome measures to accurately assess efficacy of treatment in different neuromuscular conditions including polyneuropathies and myopathies. She is currently chairing the IMACS special interest group to develop better patient reported outcome measures for Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM).

Bryan Traynor, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Investigator

Dr. Traynor is a neurologist and Senior Investigator at the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Dr. Traynor is best known for his work aimed at understanding the genetic etiology of neurological diseases, such as myasthenia gravis. Working with the late Daniel Drachman at Johns Hopkins, his laboratory has published several genome-wide association studies of myasthenia gravis, identifying many genetic factors that drive susceptibility to the disease.

He received his medical degree, a Medical Doctorate, and a Doctor of Philosophy from University College Dublin. He also received a Master’s in Medical Science from HST Harvard-MIT. He completed a Neurology residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and was a Staff Neurologist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital before moving to the NIH in 2005.

Ruth Chia, Ph.D.

Associate Investigator

Dr. Ruth Chia is a cell biologist by training but has a reformed specialty in data science and bioinformatics. She works with Dr. Bryan Traynor at the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

She obtained her Ph.D. in 2008 from University College London, UK, under the supervision of Professor Elizabeth Fisher in neuroscience and genetics with a primary focus on modeling motor neuron disease in mouse mouse models and cells. She then joined Dr. Mark Cookson at the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the NIH, where she investigated the biochemical and cellular function of a protein called LRRK2 and how mutations in LRRK2 cause Parkinson’s disease by employing various proteomics, pharmacological, and RNAi approaches.

Dr. Chia's current research covers a wide range of -omics type analyses to understand and uncover the genetic risks and potential gene targets amenable to therapeutic intervention in various neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia, and myasthenia gravis.