PROFILE

is a Career Research Health Scientist at Hines VA Hospital and a Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. His research on how neurons communicate with myelinating cells of the peripheral and central nervous system during development and in demyelinating disease is at the forefront of research in neurobiology in veterans and non-veterans alike.

He is especially interested in the cellular mechanisms, which contribute to neurological diseases such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and neurofibromatosis. A particular emphasis in his research is how growth factors such as the neuregulins in conjunction with promotion of neural plasticity may be utilized to promote recovery from neurological disease in the adult nervous system. In this context he collaborates with a number of VA researchers who are attempting to use these approaches to promote recovery from these debilitating neurological diseases.

He has been recognized for his rigor as a scientist and his pioneering work by virtue of receiving the prestigious Javits Neuroscience Award, the Distinguished Scholar Award and Outstanding Researcher Awards from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1985,and a Career Research Health Scientist Award from the VA. He has also been honored by being elected as the incoming President of the American Society for Neurochemistry. Dr. DeVries has received competitive funding awards from a wide variety of agencies including the VA, National Institutes of Health, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Heart Association, The Christopher Reeve Foundation for Spinal Cord Research and the US Army Medical Research and Material Command (Neurofibromatosis Program). He is the author of 120 published articles and over 200 abstracts.