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(Stroke. 2007;38:1645.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Special Report

The 2006 Thomas Willis Lecture

The Adventures of a Translational Researcher in Stroke and Migraine

From the Departments of Radiology and Neurology, Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence to Michael A. Moskowitz, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th St, Room 6403, Charlestown, MA 02129. E-mail Moskowitz@helix.mgh.harvard.edu

Key Words: migraine • research • stroke

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
It is especially meaningful to receive an award honoring Thomas Willis. Besides making seminal contributions to the physiology of the great circle, Willis was the first to assign separate functions to distinct brain regions and the first to number the cranial nerves in the way we identify them today. Willis was also among the earliest translational researchers, although it took >400 years for the term to emerge in our lexicon. Broad in its meaning, translational research can be highly focused and approached from bench to bedside and from bedside to bench. Bidirectional approaches are among the most efficient ways that physician-scientists can participate in the quest to discover new diagnostics and novel treatments.

So the Willis lecture will begin by providing a brief historical description of my laboratories’ contributions to research on the circle of Willis. Part 2 will focus on research advances to enhance brain perfusion by targeting the endothelium made by my colleagues and me during the past 15 years. Both areas of investigation suggest the importance of taking approaches that promote bidirectional research.

	Research Contributions to the Circle of Willis

 
In the late 1970s, we set out to identify the sensory innervation to the circle of Willis in the hope of finding a common pain pathway relevant to migraine and stroke. Penfield, McNaughton, Wolff, and others all wrote about Willis’ circle, but not all agreed about the possibility or the importance of its sensory innervation. However, on the basis of experience in the clinic, I was convinced that the strictly unilateral headaches often reported . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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