Walter Royal, MD

Dr. Walter Royal is a Professor of Neurology and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Department of Neurology's Program in Neuroimmunology and of the Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research at the University of Maryland, and he is the Associate Director for Research for the Veterans Administration Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence – East. Dr. Royal provides clinical care to patients with multiple sclerosis, neurosarcoidosis, and other inflammatory and infectious CNS disorders. His research focuses on mechanisms of disease risk and progression in individuals with MS, HIV-related nerological disorders, and neurosardoidosis. His laboratory studies environmental and dietary factors that can promote the development and progression of CNS inflammatory responses as well as virological mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of neuro-AIDS. He is the Principal Investigator of studies of HIV-related neurocognitive disorders among a cohort of HIV-infected individuals in Abuja, Nigeria. He is also the PI of a clinical drug study of the treatment patients with neurosarcoidosis and collaborates with MS Center faculty on clinical drug trials in MS. Dr. Royal has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and from private industry. He has also served on research review and advisory committees for the NIH, the Veterans Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and for private industry.

1. Royal W 3rd; Cherner M; Burdo T, Akolo C; Okwuasaba K; Umlauf A; Eyzaguirre L; Guo M; Letendre S; Abimiku A; Jumare J, Williams K; Blattner W. Associations between Cognition, Gender and Monocyte Activation among HIV Infected Individuals in Nigeria. PLOS ONE. 2016 Feb 1;11(2):e0147182. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147182. eCollection 2016.
2. Khanna A, Guo M, Mehra M, Royal W 3rd. Inflammation and oxidative stress induced by cigarette smoke in Lewis rat brains. J Neuroimmunol. 2013;254:69-75.
3. Jumare J, Sunshine S, Ahmed H, El-Kamary SS, Magder L, Hungerford L, Burdo T, Eyzaguirre LM, Umlauf A, Cherner M, Abimiku A, Charurat M, Li JZ, Blattner WA, Royal W 3rd. Peripheral blood lymphocyte HIV DNA levels correlate with HIV associated neurocognitive disorders in Nigeria. J Neurovirol. 2017 Feb 27. doi: 10.1007/s13365-017-0520-5. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 28243867.
4. Tostanoski LH, Chiu Y-C, Andorko JI, Guo G, Zeng X, Zhang P, Royal W, Jewell CM. Design of polyelectrolyte multilayers to promote immune tolerance. ACS Nano. 2016 Sep 7. [Epub ahead of print].
5. Sultana S, Li H, Puche A, Jones O, Bryant JL, Royal W 3rd. Quantitation of Parvalbumin+ Neurons in the HIV-1 Transgenic Rat and Effects of Vitamin A Deficiency and Morphine.  Journal of NeuroVirology.  2010;16:33-40. 
6. Royal W 3rd, Zhang L, Guo M, Jones O, Davis H, Bryant JL. Immune activation, viral gene product expression and neurotoxicity in the HIV-1 transgenic rat. J Neuroimmunol. 2012;247:16-24. 
7. Royal W 3rd, Mia Y, Li H, Naunton K. Peripheral blood regulatory T cell measurements correlate with serum vitamin D levels in patients with multiple sclerosis. J Neuroimmunol. 2009 18;213:135-41. 
8. Royal W 3rd, Gartner S, Gadjewski CD. Retinol measurements and retinol receptor gene expression in patients with multiple sclerosis.  Multiple Sclerosis. 2002; 8:452-458. 
9. Royal W 3rd, Leander MV, Bissonnette RP.  Retinoid-Induced Mu Opioid Receptor Expression by phytohemagglutinin-stimulated U937 Cells. Journal of NeuroVirology 2005;11:157-165.
10. Mou L, Lankford-Turner P, Leander MV, Bissonnette RP, Donohoe RM, Royal W 3rd. RXR-induced TNF-α Suppression is Reversed by Morphine in Phytohemagglutanin-activated U937 Cells.  Journal of Neuroimmunology. 2004;147:99-105.