Raine, Cedric Stuart

Professor Emeritus of Pathology
Neuroscience and Neurology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NYC

In a career spanning more than four decades, Dr. Raine made many significant contributions towards the understanding of the insidious autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis (MS). At a time when investigations into immunologic interactions within the central nervous system (CNS) lacked a dedicated journal and met with some difficulty when submitted to the general immunologic literature, Dr. Raine launched the Journal of Neuroimmunology in 1980 (serving as Editor-in-Chief until 2010) and founded the International Society of Neuroimmunology in 1987 (serving as President from 1987-2001).

Dr. Raine and his group at Einstein showed that in MS, the immune system targets the myelin sheaths of nerve fibers in the CNS and PNS leading to selective and widespread destruction of myelin (demyelination), axons and oligodendrocytes and to the disruption of nerve conduction. Dr. Raine is recognized for the identification and characterization of immune cells and mediators involved in myelin breakdown and repair mechanisms in MS and in the development and analysis of its laboratory models. He was also involved in the analysis of the interactions between several viruses and the CNS. His groundbreaking ultrastructural studies allowed for the visualization and analysis of several unique structural features in the nervous system and of disease processes in demyelination. His work also uncovered several molecular pathways applicable to the testing of experimental immune-based therapies paving the way for some treatments now in use in MS.

His bibliography shows almost 500 peer-reviewed papers, articles, book chapters and several books. A major textbook on MS published in 2008 in collaboration with Drs. Henry McFarland (NIH) and Reinhard Hohlfeld (Munich) remains a leading reference in the field.

His many honors include an Award for Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology from the American Association of Neuropathologists, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, a Research Career Development Award from the NIH, a Javits Award from the NIH, the Dystel Prize for MS Research from the National MS Society and the American Academy of Neurology, and a gold medal for medical writing from the New York State Society of Medicine.  

Dr. Raine received a PhD (Medicine) in 1967 and a DSc (Medicine) in 1975, both from Newcastle University, England, and was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Pathology in 1988. He received a Doctoris Honoris Causa from Lodz, Poland in 2000. His laboratory at Einstein was an international center for clinical and research training in MS and contributed significantly to the careers of more than 60 investigators, many of whom are now leaders in the field.  He retired in 2012 but maintains an office at Einstein where he continues his writing.