Steven Vernino, M.D., Ph.D.

Steven Vernino, M.D., Ph.D., is a Distinguished Teaching Professor and Vice Chair for Education and Faculty Affairs in the Department of Neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. 

Dr. Vernino specializes in evaluating, diagnosing, and treating autoimmune neurological disorders, autonomic disorders, and neuromuscular disorders.  He is the founding Director of the Autonomic Disorders Clinic, the multidisciplinary Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Clinic, and the Autonomic Disorders Fellowship Program. He is also Co-Director of the Autoimmune Neurology Fellowship Program. 

Dr. Vernino earned his medical degree and Ph.D. degree in neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed a neurology residency and fellowship training in neuroimmunology and electromyography (EMG) at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2004.

Dr. Vernino holds the Dr. Bob and Jean Smith Foundation Distinguished Chair in Neuromuscular Disease Research and the Rex Griswold Distinguished Professorship in Multiple System Atrophy. He is the director of the autonomic disorders program and MSA Mutidisciplinary clinic. His primary research goal is improving the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune and autonomic neurological disorders.  He also leads a number of clinical trials for autonomic disorders and autoimmune encephalitis.  

Most notably, Dr. Vernino has helped define the relationship between autoimmune disorders and disorders of the autonomic nervous system and identified the antibodies to ganglionic acetylcholine receptors as the cause of autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy, a rare autonomic nervous system disorder. He has also characterized several neurological antibodies related to paraneoplastic disorders.  He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and dozens of book chapters and reviews.

He has been selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association and the American Autonomic Society. Dr. Vernino is board certified in neurology, neuromuscular medicine, and autonomic disorders. He serves as the president of the American Autonomic Society, the major professional society for the study of disorders of the autonomic nervous system.

Among his many professional activities, Dr. Vernino serves on the medical advisory boards of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, The Multiple System Atrophy Coalition, and Dysautonomia International. 

He has received numerous awards for his work as a clinician, researcher, and teacher, including the 1998 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Founders Award, the 2013 AAN Program Director Recognition Award, and the 2018 University of Texas Regents Outstanding Teacher Award. He was inducted into the Southwestern Academy of Teachers in 2015.

Graduate School

Baylor College of Medicine (1992)

Other Post Graduate Training

Baylor College of Medicine (1992)

Medical School

Baylor College of Medicine (1994)

Internship

Mayo Clinic (1995), Internal Medicine

Residency

Mayo Clinic (1998), Neurology

Fellowship

Mayo Clinic (1999), Neuroimmunology

• Autonomic effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors
• Clinical treatment trials for autoimmune and autonomic disorders
• Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes
• Serologic evaluation of patients with dysautonomia

Featured Publications

Ganglionic Acetylcholine Receptor Antibodies in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome.

Bryarly M, Raj SR, Phillips L, Hynan LS, Okamoto LE, Arnold AC, Paranjape SY, Vernino M, Black BK, Vernino S, Neurol Clin Pract 2021 Aug 11 4 e397-e401

NMDA receptor antibody seropositivity in psychosis: A pilot study from the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP).

Blackburn KM, Ivleva EI, Weir RA, Kim M, Hopkins SC, Hudgens-Haney ME, Keedy SK, Gershon ES, Sweeney JA, Keshavan MS, Pearlson GD, Clementz BA, Tamminga CA, Vernino S, Schizophr. Res. 2020 Jan

Seronegative autoimmune autonomic neuropathy: a distinct clinical entity.

Golden EP, Bryarly MA, Vernino S Clin. Auton. Res. 2017 Dec

Neurological Autoantibody Prevalence in Epilepsy of Unknown Etiology.

Dubey D, Alqallaf A, Hays R, Freeman M, Chen K, Ding K, Agostini M, Vernino S JAMA Neurol 2017 Feb

A Unique Manifestation of Pupillary Fatigue in Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy.

Muppidi S, Scribner M, Gibbons CH, Adams-Huet B, Spaeth EB, Vernino S Arch. Neurol. 2012 May 69 5 644-8

Antibody-mediated impairment and homeostatic plasticity of autonomic ganglionic synaptic transmission.

Wang Z, Low PA, Vernino S Exp. Neurol. 2010 Mar 222 1 114-9

Autonomic ganglia, acetylcholine receptor antibodies, and autoimmune ganglionopathy.

Vernino S, Hopkins S, Wang Z Auton Neurosci 2009 Mar 146 1-2 3-7

Characterization of ganglionic acetylcholine receptor autoantibodies.

Vernino S, Lindstrom J, Hopkins S, Wang Z, Low PA J. Neuroimmunol. 2008 Jun 197 1 63-9

Autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy: IgG effects on ganglionic acetylcholine receptor current.

Wang Z, Low PA, Jordan J, Freeman R, Gibbons CH, Schroeder C, Sandroni P, Vernino S Neurology 2007 May 68 22 1917-21

Autoimmune encephalopathies.

Vernino S, Geschwind M, Boeve B Neurologist 2007 May 13 3 140-7

 Featured Books

Autoimmune Autonomic Failure. In Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Volume 117: Autonomic Nervous System

Muppidi S, Vernino S (2013). Elsevier

• President
  American Autonomic Society (2020-2022)
• Fellow
  American Autonomic Society (2018)
• University of Texas Regents Outstanding Teacher Award
  (2016)
• UT Southwestern Academy of Teachers
  (2014)
• Program Director Recognition Award
  American Academy of Neurology (CNPD) (2013)
• Best Doctors
  D Magazine (2012-2019)
• Fellow
  American Academy of Neurology (2007)
• Fellow
  American Neurological Association (2005)
• Founders Award for Clinical Research
  American Academy of Neurology (1998)
• Woltman Award for Clinical Neurology
  Mayo Clinic (1998)
• DeBakey Scholar Award
  Baylor College of Medicine (1994)
• Rush Record Excellence in Neuroscience Award
  Baylor College of Medicine (1992)

• American Academy of Neurology
• American Autonomic Society
• American Neurological Association
• Dysautonomia International (2014)
• Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Coalition (2013)
• Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (2007)