Associate Professor Stefan Blum

ATH - Associate Professor

Princess Alexandra Hospital Southside Clinical Unit
Faculty of Medicine

Overview

Stefan is a Staff Specialist in Neurology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) and the Mater Centre for Neuroscience. He finished his training as neurologist in 2012.

He runs dedicated multiple sclerosis (MS) and Neuroimmunology clinics at the PAH, leading in modern MS therapies. Moreover, he has been at the forefront of advancing the field of neuroimmunology in Queensland, with establishment of dedicated neuroimmunology outpatient clinics at the RBWH and PAH, combining expertise from neurologists and immunologists in the care of this very complex group of disorders.

In addition to his busy, full-time clinical workload, Stefan has been involved as PI or CI in a range of clinical trials in the fields of MS, botulinum toxin, CIDP and Pompe’s disease. Additionally, he has performed and is involved in ongoing research projects of neuroimmunological disorders such as neuromyelitis optica, myasthenia gravis and autoimmune limbic encephalitis. He has been a member of the New Horizons study to assess prevalence of anti-neuronal antibodies in patients with new onset psychosis.

Prior to this, Stefan finished a PhD in the field of ‘Immunogenetics of Guillain-Barre Syndrome and Chronic inflammatory polyneuropathy’ at the University of Queensland in 2014. He also completed a doctoral thesis at the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 2002 in the field of T cell immunology. During this time, he has developed solid skills in bench-side immunological research.

Currently, he is neurological lead in a diverse group of clinicians and scientists investigating the role of antineuronal antibodies in neurological and psychiatric disease. He supervises 3 PhD students in the field of advanced imaging in autoimmune encephalitis and multiple sclerosis. He is currently building up a laboratory to test antineuronal antibodies using live cell assays.

Research Interests

  • Neuronal cell surface antibodies in neurological and psychiatric disease
  • Social cognition in Multiple Sclerosis
  • The role of low dose Rituximab in autoimmune neurological disease

Research Impacts

Stefan has been medical advisor and organiser of conferences of the national myasthenia gravis association. He is neurological advisor of the state-wide blood product services regarding use of immunoglobulins in neuroimmunological disorders. He is involved in the organisation of the International Society of Neuroimmunology Conference in Brisbane 2018. He is secretary of Neuroimmunology Australia, a national group of clinicians and researchers in the field of neuroimmunology. He was lead clinician in the development of referral guidelines for state-wide referral guidelines to Queensland Health Neurology services (CPC). He has been involved for many years in the education of medical student and young doctors, winning several teaching awards.

Publications

  • Hardy, TA, Aouad, P, Barnett, MH, Blum, S, Broadley, S, Carroll, WM, Crimmins, D, Griffiths, D, Hodgkinson, S, Lechner-Scott, J, Lee, A, Malhotra, R, McCombe, P, Parratt, J, Plummer, C, Van der Walt, A, Martel, K and Walker, RA (2024). Onboarding of siponimod in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis patients in Australia: Novel, real-world evidence from the MSGo digital support programme. Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental, Translational and Clinical, 10 (1) ARTN 20552173231226106, 20552173231226106. doi: 10.1177/20552173231226106

  • Yeow, Dennis, Katz, Matthew, Henderson, Robert, Prasad, Sandhir, Denman, Russell, Blum, Stefan, Davis, Mark, Robertson, Thomas and McCombe, Pamela (2023). Phenotypic variability within the desminopathies: A case series of three patients. Frontiers in Neurology, 13 1110934. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.1110934

  • Broadley, James, Wesselingh, Robb, Beech, Paul, Seneviratne, Udaya, Kyndt, Chris, Buzzard, Katherine, Nesbitt, Cassie, D’Souza, Wendyl, Brodtmann, Amy, Macdonell, Richard, Kalincik, Tomas, O’Brien, Terence J., Butzkueven, Helmut, Monif, Mastura, Griffiths, Sarah, Rushen, Tiffany, Tan, Tracie, Malpas, Charles, Halliday, Amy, Alpitsis, Rubina, Seery, Nabil, Tarlinton, David, Reddel, Steve, Hardy, Todd, Taylor, Bruce, Long, Brian, Wijeratne, Tissa, White, Owen, Fielding, Jo ... Clough, Meaghan (2022). Neuroimaging characteristics may aid in diagnosis, subtyping, and prognosis in autoimmune encephalitis. Neurological Sciences, 44 (4), 1327-1340. doi: 10.1007/s10072-022-06523-9

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Supervision

  • (2023) Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

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Publications

Book Chapter

  • Newman, Martin, Airey, Caroline, Blum, Stefan, Scott, James G., Wong, Richard C. and Gillis, David (2018). Autoimmune encephalitis: clinical features, pathophysiology, and management. Neuroinflammation. (pp. 193-216) edited by Alireza Minagar. London, United Kingdom: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-811709-5.00010-7

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision