Professor Helmut Butzkueven is The The Van Cleef Roet Chair of Neuroscience and Head of the Department of Neuroscience, Monash University, and Director of Neurology, Alfred Health. He is also Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology research unit in the Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School. He is an international leader in translational research in the neurological disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He is Managing Director of the MSBase Foundation (www.msbase.org) that funds and administers a global online MS cohort study with more than 70,000 patients enrolled in 130 centres across 36 countries, which has resulted in multiple publications that have directly impacted on patient care worldwide.

He completed his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 2003, and subsequently a post-doctoral fellowship at The Howard Florey Institute. He has received multiple awards for his research and medical leadership, including The Bethlehem Griffith Research Foundation Award, The Australian Museum and University of NSW Eureka Prize and the Research Australia Health and Medical Research Data Innovation Award. Currently, he holds a highly competitive NHMRC Research Leader Investigator Grant, recognising him as a leading medical researcher in Australia.

His overarching research theme and clinical interest is the use of registry data, clinical MRI data, cognitive testing, genomics and patient self-monitoring devices and applications to evaluate treatment strategies to optimise the benefit and safety of MS therapies. 

In addition to his research leadership credentials, Prof. Butzkueven has over 20 years’ experience as a clinical neurologist, and is Head of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuro Immunology (MSNI) Clinic at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. He is also a passionate teacher and mentor of young clinicians and researchers, and is Research Higher Degree Coordinator for the Central Clinical School, Monash University. 

Professor Butzkueven also is a member on the Board of Directors at MS Research Australia. He has a long working history with MS Research Australia, initially awarded a Fellowship in 2006 to investigate protecting nerve cells from MS injury. Most recently he has been an active member on a number of working groups and collaborative platforms as well as volunteering as MS Research Australia’s Scientific Conference Convenor.