Stephen Hauser, MD
Stephen L. Hauser, M.D. is the Robert A. Fishman Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is Director of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, an umbrella organization that links the clinical and basic neurosciences at UCSF to accelerate research against neurologic diseases. A neuroimmunologist, Dr. Hauser’s research has advanced our understanding of the genetic basis, immune mechanisms, and treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). His work led to the development of B cell therapies for MS patients, representing a powerful new approach for treating all forms of the disease and the first therapy of proven value for progressive MS.
Dr. Hauser is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Physicians. He is an editor of the medical textbook Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. Previously chairman of the Department of Neurology at UCSF for 25 years, he has also served as President of the American Neurological Association, President of the Medical Staff at UCSF, Chair of the Research Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and editor-in-chief of Annals of Neurology. He also served the Obama administration as a member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues charged with advising the President on issues that may emerge from advances in biomedicine and related areas of science and technology.
Dr. Hauser has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research (2008), the Charcot Award (2013), the Taubman Prize for Excellence in Translational Medical Research (2017), and the Scientific Breakthrough Award from the American Brain Foundation (2022).
Dr. Hauser is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Medical School (Magna Cum Laude). He trained in internal medicine at the New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center, in neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in immunology at Harvard Medical School and the Institute Pasteur in Paris, France. He was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School before moving to UCSF.