Cenk Ayata, M.D.


Professor of Neurology
Harvard Medical School
Physician Investigator (Cl)
Radiology, Mass General Research Institute
Neurologist
Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital
MD Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine 1991
brain injury; brain ischemia; cadasil; cerebrovascular circulation; clinical trials as topic; cortical spreading depression; hemorrhagic stroke; infarction middle cerebral artery; migraine; migraine disorders; migraine with aura; stroke; subarachnoid hemorrhage; subarachnoid hemorrhage traumatic

I am a neurologist and a clinician-scientist dedicated to translational research on neurovascular function and dysfunction. Since my arrival at MGH as a fellow under the invaluable mentorship of Professor Michael A. Moskowitz in 1994, I have dedicated my time to build and integrate electrophysiological and multimodal optical imaging techniques focusing on neurovascular research areas including stroke, migraine, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and CADASIL. With independent grant supports from American Heart Association, NIH, and Deane Foundation, I explore therapies to augment perfusion and oxygenation in acute stroke (e.g., hyperoxia, induced hypertension, Rho-kinase inhibition), the pathophysiological roles of injury depolarizations in stroke, and targeting spreading depression in migraine.

My research group has authored or co-authored 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts over the past 5 years in high-impact journals including Journal of Clinical Investigation, Brain, Annals of Neurology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Stroke, and Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

As part of my translational research efforts, I was the Principal Investigator of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of simvastatin against vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage in the MGH NeuroICU, gaining invaluable experience in trial design and conduct. The results have recently been published in Stroke.

Research lab website Publications Clinical Profile
cayata@mgh.harvard.edu

MGH West - PARC Building
40 Second Avenue
Waltham, MA 02451