Irene Cortese obtained her MD and neurology speciality training at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Neuroimmunology Branch at NIH, followed by US Neurology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Clinical Fellowship in Neuroimmunology at NIH. She stayed at NIH as a staff clinician and was Director of the Neuroimmunology Clinic from 2013-2021. Dr. Cortese is currently Chief of the NINDS Experimental Immunotherapeutics Unit, and the PI of the NIH natural history study of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and early phase interventional studies in the same disease.
