Jeffrey M. Rosenstein, PhD grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Kent State University. He then attended graduate school at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of the Pennsylvania State University, where he was awarded a PhD in Anatomy in 1976. His dissertation work, with Professor A.E. Leure-duPree, was done at a time when the different fields of neuroscience research began to coalesce. The Society of Neuroscience, which was a collaboration between neuroanatomists, neuroembryologists, neurophysiologists, neuropharmacologists and physiological psychologists, had just recently formed. Jeff applied his enthusiasm for understanding the structure of the brain by becoming a master of electron microscopy and exploring the synaptic organization of somatosensory nuclei in normal and injured adults. Under the tutelage of Leure-duPree, an expert in the synaptic organization of the retina and vascularization of the cornea, Jeff began his long-term interest in the cellular changes that occur in the brain after injury and neurodegenerative disease.
For his postdoctoral work, Jeff joined the Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuroanatomical Science at the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NIH-NINCDS), headed by Dr. Milton Brightman, a renowned neurocytologist who was one of the founders of our understanding of the connections between neurons, glia and the ependyma. Brightman also is credited with discovering the anatomical basis of the blood-brain barrier, which inspired Jeff’s long-term interest in this structure. Jeff and Milt enjoyed a long collaboration, first with Jeff as a postdoctoral fellow supported by the highly competitive National Service Research Award fellowship and continuing as he established his own laboratory at GWU. Rosenstein and Brightman were the first American team to implement the novel technique of transplanting neural tissue into injured sites of the Central Nervous System (CNS). It soon became clear that this innovative approach would become an important methodology to study neural and vascular development under several clinically relevant situations. They first transplanted autonomic ganglia into CNS sites to determine the best parameters for neuronal survival. Superior cervical ganglia were chosen because, unlike the CNS, their vasculature is fenestrated, i.e. permeable, allowing peptides, hormones and immunoglobulins to pass between the transplant and host brain (see Rosenstein and Brightman, 1983). As the field matured, later studies transplanted regions of fetal brain that contained the precursors for the damaged neurons. For example, fetal midbrain containing precursors of the substantial nigra were transplanted to replace the dopamine neurons lost in Parkinson’s disease, and fetal neocortex was transplanted to promote recovery of function after stroke. One of the major problems to overcome in the transplanted tissue was revascularization and the prevention of glial and endothelial barriers. Cleverly combining light and electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry and novel permeability assays, Rosenstein and his GWU collaborators (Janette Krum [Anatomy & Cell Biology], Terry Moody [Biochemistry], Terry Phillips [Medicine]), trainees (Nina Mani; Alfia Khaibullina, Bill Silverman), and laboratory members (Gilda Kornhauser, Newton More) defined the novel states of endothelial barriers, angiogenesis, myelination, gliosis, and the expression of neurotransmitters, neuropeptide receptors and glucose transporters in the neurons developing in the transplanted tissue. This very productive group published over 30 papers on these topics, which for decades influenced those studying this avenue of treating adult CNS injury and disease.
In the course of these elegant studies, Krum and Rosenstein discovered a novel role for Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in neural tissue. VEGF was known to be a specific mitogen for endothelial cells during angiogenesis in peripheral tissues. By assaying whether VEGF had a role in vascularization of neural transplants, they and their trainees discovered that it also is expressed by CNS neurons and glia, can induce neurite growth in cell cultures devoid of blood vessels, guide neuronal migration and protect against the effects of ischemia. It is upregulated after CNS injury, thereby promoting angiogenesis, blood-brain barrier permeability and astroglial proliferation. These pleiotropic effects had not been appreciated prior to their work, and provided a foundation for future studies to determine whether VEGF could be used to promote CNS repair (see Rosenstein et al., 2010). As a founder of the neural transplantation field, Jeff’s influence extended beyond his GWU collaborators and team. For example, he had a very productive collaboration with Jeffrey Kordower (Rush Presbyterian Medical Center) that led to several important findings, including: the role of the p75 neurotrophin receptor after damage to the striatum in Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease; an evaluation of fetal nigral grafts into a patient with Parkinson’s disease; and an evaluation of the development of transplanted neural stem cells in Huntington’s disease.
Hopefully this short description of Jeff’s decades of work (publications from 1976-2010) illustrates that his research was the foundation of the currently thriving field of using neural transplantation to correct deficits due to injury, ischemia and disease. His expansive bibliography includes studies of the factors that allow the survival of neural transplants, astroglial, ependymal and angiogenic responses, effects on blood-brain barrier permeability and the action of VEGF. From his initial work with Brightman to his highly productive neuroscience research laboratory at GWU, he set the stage for the advances we now see in the current explosion of clinical trials to evaluate the use of stem cell therapies to treat several neurodegenerative diseases (see Moody, 2025).
Jeff’s expertise was greatly appreciated by the international Neuroscience community. He published over 70 original, peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters. His significant work was published in high impact journals including Nature, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Neuroscience, Brain Research and Experimental Neurology. He was an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings and served on many NIH and NSF study sections and external advisory committees. He served on the editorial boards and as a reviewer for a large number of scientific journals and received extramural funding from the NIH for over 25 years, including the highly prestigious Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award for 12 years. This award is given to “investigators with a history of exceptional talent, imagination and preeminent scientific achievement”.
Jeff’s contributions to neuroscience at GWU also was extensive. He was one of the founding faculty members of the Neuroscience Graduate Program, which was started as an interdepartmental program in CCAS in the early 1990’s. He not only trained PhD students and postdocs in his laboratory, but mentored the research projects of numerous Gill Fellows and neurosurgery residents and served on many PhD dissertation committees in the Anatomy, Pharmacology and Psychology departments and Neuroscience Program. During his >40 years as a faculty member, he served on nearly every committee available in the SMHS. Notably significant contributions were his service as Chair of the Institution Animal Care and Use Committee, member, and vice chair of searches for Chairs in Surgery and Neurological Surgery and Acting Chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology. Remarkably, he served on the medical student evaluation committee for over 25 years!
With all his intensive research efforts and committee obligations, it might be assumed that Jeff had a minimal teaching load. Wrong assumption. Jeff, along with his gross anatomy colleagues, Ray Walsh, Ronald Bohn, Frank Slaby, maintained significant and extensive teaching loads within undergraduate, graduate, physician assistant, and medical programs. They constituted the “legacy” gross anatomy faculty – members of which maintained active and externally funded research programs while dedicating a significant time to teaching the future medical professionals and scientists. However, this diversified academic footprint suited Jeff well. He was as natural in the gross anatomy laboratory teaching as he was in his research laboratory. Moreover, his teaching expertise and focus reflected his research interests, allowing him to integrate innovative scholarship into fundamental concepts for various student populations.
For years Jeff was a lecturer and laboratory instructor for the legacy discipline-specific Medical Neurobiology and Gross Anatomy courses. In the Neurobiology course he gave regular lectures on the pituitary system, basal nuclei, and the limbic system. His research expertise made him a natural fit to also provide lectures on the cerebrovascular system and the blood brain barrier. These sessions were points of pride for him as he enjoyed bridging cutting-edge research with practical and clinical relevance. For Medical Gross Anatomy, he maintained regular lectures on a variety of topics, including the upper limb and head & neck. When the SMHS Medical Curriculum underwent a curricular reorganization in 2014, resulting in the transition of these discipline-specific courses to integrated premedical ones, Jeff continued to teach, and adapted his content to better align with the concurrent clinical sessions. This adaptation was a natural reflection of his existing emphasis on clinically relevant anatomy and neuroanatomy and suited him well. In addition to his extensive teaching in the medical programs, he gave similar lectures for the undergraduate and graduate gross anatomy course and the Physician Assistant course. It is reasonable to say that if a student took gross anatomy in any of the departmental courses over the past 40 years, Jeff taught them these topics.
While Jeff was an engaging and outstanding lecturer, he truly shined in the gross anatomy laboratory. On average, Jeff and the rest of the gross anatomy faculty had 75-130 hours per year of dedicated instruction in the medical gross anatomy sessions alone. For the legacy course, this consisted primarily of dissection with some prosection. With the curricular shift in 2015, prosection was integrated more, necessitating someone capable of engaging small groups fully. For Jeff, the prosection format allowed him to focus on his favorite topics more fully – the brachial plexus and associated hand injuries. He loved relating the content to popular sports media, integrating injuries of professional athletes into what was presented in the laboratory. Frequently his beloved, but disappointing, Cleveland Browns were the focus of these discussions. He also was the unofficial laboratory expert for removing the calvaria and brain, a position that Frank deferred to him every year because of Jeff’s skill. Jeff loved walking students through this dissection, taking the time to review the anatomy of the brain as he went. He also served as mentor for all the new gross anatomy teaching hires and teaching assistants for this detailed dissection, demonstrating his approach and relating it to lecture content. Although he liked to joke about getting “too old” to teach in the lab anymore, Jeff maintained this extremely heavy load up until his retirement in 2019. But retirement did not stop Jeff. Following his appointment to Professor Emeritus, he volunteered to teach in the medical gross anatomy laboratory sessions, continuing to contribute to an exemplary standard of instruction at GWU SMHS.
While Jeff loved teaching anatomy, he loved the camaraderie among the gross anatomy faculty perhaps more. For over 30 years, he had the opportunity to work with his near and dear colleagues: Ray, Frank, and Ron. For those who had the opportunity to work with them in the laboratory, you immediately felt part of a family, one that not only loved the work they did and the students they interacted with. Similarly, families joke around with each other, and this one was no different. Jeff, Ray, Frank, and Ron loved debating topics ranging from politics, the economy and stock market, sports, and even pets. But above all they respected each other.
In Jeff’s later years he had a particular fondness for teaching Physician Assistant students and regularly remarked how impressed he was with their clinical exposure, performance, and maturity. His former colleague and dear friend, Frank, was the longtime PA course director. Following Frank’s passing in 2019, the department established the memorial Frank J. Slaby Physician Assistant Student Award, given to a PA student who demonstrated support for their peers and excellence in anatomy. Jeff co-presented the award for several years in honor of Frank. However, his fondness for PA students was also personal in nature. During this time, his daughter, Madeleine, was finishing her undergraduate at GWU and looking into Physician Assistant Programs. She was accepted and ultimately graduated from Shenandoah University PA Program in 2023. Throughout her training, Jeff would tout her achievements as she pursued this career path, sharing with colleagues and PA students how proud he was of her. Because of his deep connection to PA teaching, his close relationship with Frank, the gross anatomy have decided to honor Jeff by updating the award to the Frank J. Slaby and Jeffrey M. Rosenstein Physician Assistant Student Award. The department is looking forward to giving out the inaugural award in 2026.
References:
Rosenstein, JM and Brightman MW. 1983. Circumventing the blood-brain barrier with autonomic ganglion transplants. Science 221, 879-881.
Rosenstein, JM, Krum, JM, Ruhrberg, C. 2010. VEGF in the nervous system. Organogenesis 6, 107-114. doi: 10.4161/org.6.2.11687.
Moody, SA. 2025. The impact of neural development research on understanding neural stem cells and human nervous system development. Anatomical Science Education (in p