Program

W. David Arnold, MD is a physician-scientist and tenured Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Neurology, and Medical Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Missouri, where he serves as Executive Director of the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Initiative and is a founding leader of the Center for Translational Neurogenetics. With a nontraditional training trajectory that bridges clinical medicine, translational neuroscience, and therapeutic development, his research focuses on translational neuromuscular physiology in the context of health, aging, and disease. His work has helped to define neural contributions to sarcopenia and mechanisms of neuromuscular decline across the lifespan, and his team has published the first efforts to develop neurotherapeutics for the treatment of age-related loss of physical function. Dr. Arnold has contributed to the development of gene-replacement therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), therapeutic development efforts in Charcot?Marie?Tooth disease (CMT), and advances in genetic and molecular therapies for neuromuscular disorders such as myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). He is the executive director of the NextGen Precision Health Initiative, the largest investment in translational research in the history of the University of Missouri System. He co-directs the MD/PhD program at Missouri, holds national leadership roles in physician-scientist training including the Rehabilitation Medicine Scientist Training Program (RMSTP), chair of the research committee of the AAP, and leads multidisciplinary teams advancing precision therapies for neuromuscular and neurogenetic disease.