Daniela Menichella, MD, PhD, FANA
Northwestern University
Dr. Daniela Maria Menichella received her MD and PhD from the University of Milan in Italy. She served as a postdoctoral fellow at Wayne State University and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Menichella completed her Neurology Residency Program at Northwestern University in Chicago, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Neurology and Pharmacology. She directs the Peripheral Neuropathy Multidisciplinary Clinic and the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association Center for Excellence. Dr. Menichella is actively engaged in both basic science and translational research, including participation in NIH NeuroNext and NIH HEAL EPICC clinical trials. As the Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded laboratory, she investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain and axonal degeneration in hereditary and acquired peripheral neuropathies, with a particular focus on painful diabetic neuropathy. To design more effective therapeutics, her laboratory employs an integrated approach that combines pain behavioral tests, electrophysiological studies, in vitro and in vivo calcium imaging, confocal studies, chemogenetics, and single-cell RNA sequencing, utilizing conditional and transgenic mouse models. Recently, her lab has begun validating therapeutic targets using human tissue, including dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and skin biopsies.