Bridget Ostrem, MD, PhD, Receives 2023 Irene Perstein Award to Advance Therapeutic Development for Neonatal Brain Injuries
Bridget Ostrem, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology, has been awarded a 2023 Irene Perstein Award recognizing her research to advance therapeutic development for neonatal brain injuries.
As a pediatric neurologist focused on neonatal neurology, Dr. Ostrem regularly sees the impact of neonatal brain injury in her clinical work. She hopes to develop new treatments and therapies that would promote long-term recovery in babies with different types of brain injuries.
“Every day I see how brain injury in babies affects them long term,” Dr. Ostrem said. “It affects their development and ability to live life to its fullest. I also see how few therapeutic options we have for these babies.”
The Perstein Award will allow Dr. Ostrem to expand resources in her lab to study compounds that show promise for treating preterm white matter injury, which is the most common cause of acquired brain injury in premature babies. The condition leads to high rates of cerebral palsy diagnoses and cognitive disabilities.
“There’s no specific treatment for the condition other than rehabilitative therapies,” Dr. Ostrem said. “I would love to be able to end the conversations we have in the intensive care nursery where we say to parents ‘I’m sorry, but we have no specific treatments for your child.’”
Dr. Ostrem has built a rodent model to study motor and cognitive outcomes and has focused recent work on a specific compound, a repurposed antihistamine called clemastine, that promotes recovery at a cell and tissue level. She and her team published a manuscript in the journal Pediatric Research identifying plasma concentrations and target doses for a future clinical trial. They are now working to complete the studies requested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needed for a phase I clinical trial in babies.
“I’ve been really excited about this project. The compound is very promising for treating preterm white matter injury. We’ve known for a while that it’s potentially useful, but there’s been this critical gap in identifying target doses,” she said.
Dr. Ostrem encourages other early-stage physician scientists to consider short and long-term goals that fit together in an overall career trajectory, while still carving out smaller projects and grant applications to meet their goals more attainably. She credits the mentorship and collaboration she’s received throughout her training as fundamental to allowing her to start off strong in her career.
“I’m incredibly appreciative to have won this award,” Dr. Ostrem said. “People at UCSF are so open and giving. I’ve been able to gather a community of support, and I hope to continue to give back to that community as my career grows.”
The Irene Perstein Award was founded in 2007 and honors the legacy of Irene Holmes Perstein who left a bequest to provide annual awards to outstanding junior women scientists in the UCSF School of Medicine. Karly Murphy, MD, MHS, MSc, is also a 2023 Irene Perstein Award recipient.