Dr. Daniela Maria Menichella, MD, Ph.D

Expert Publications

• The absence of myelin P0 protein produces a novel molecular phenotype in Schwann cells.
• Protein zero is necessary for E-cadherin-mediated adherens junction formation in Schwann cells.
• CXCR4 chemokine receptor signaling mediates pain in diabetic neuropathy.
• Chemogenetic Inhibition of Pain Neurons in a Mouse Model of Osteoarthritis.
• The Absence of Myelin P Protein Produces a Novel Molecular Phenotype in Schwann Cell.

Clinical Trials

• Topiramate for Cryptogenic Sensory Peripheral Neuropathy

Media Releases

Get to know Neurologist Dr. Daniela Maria Menichella, who serves patients in Illinois.

Specializing in neuromuscular medicine, Dr. Menichella is an established neurologist working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University. She also serves as Director of the Peripheral Neuropathy Multidisciplinary Clinic & Director of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association Center for Excellence.

Her practice focus areas include Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, chemotherapy induced neuropathy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, dysimmune neuropathy, hereditary neuropathy, idiopathic peripheral neuropathy, neuropathy, and small fiber neuropathy.

An educator, Dr. Menichella serves as an Associate Professor of Neurology and Pharmacology at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University.

Among the various institutions and centers that she is affiliated with include: Center for Diabetes and Metabolism, Les Turner ALS Center, and Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-Based Center.

Educated in Italy, Dr. Menichella graduated with her medical degree from the University of Milan Faculty of Medicine in 1994. She then relocated to the United States, performing her internship and residency in neurology at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in 2008 and 2011, respectively. She was also a postdoctoral fellow of neuroscience at Wayne State University and Harvard Medical School. 

As a testament to her success, the doctor is board-certified in neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to serving the professions of psychiatry and neurology.

Actively engaged in basic science and translational research, including NIH NeuroNext and EPPIC clinical trials, Dr. Menichella is the Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded laboratory that investigates the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain and axonal degeneration in hereditary and acquired peripheral neuropathies with a particular focus on painful diabetic neuropathy. Towards designing more effective therapeutics, her laboratory takes advantage of an integrated approach combining pain behavioral tests, electrophysiology studies, in vitro and in vivo calcium imaging studies, confocal studies, chemogenetics, and single-cell RNA sequencing with conditional and transgenic mouse models. 

More recently, Dr. Menichella’s laboratory has been validating therapeutic targets using human tissue including DRG and skin biopsy.

Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Neurologists are licensed medical specialists who diagnose and treat disorders that affect the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and muscles of patients. They examine a patient’s mental and physical status, conduct medical tests and scans, and evaluate the results to diagnose and treat the patient.

On a more personal note, Dr. Menichella is bilingual in English and Italian.

Recommended Articles

• Elderly Couple’s Heartfelt Fight Against Alzheimer’s Goes Viral

  Cao Xuemei, 76, strove each day to care for her 80-year-old husband Cui, but as time wore on and his Alzheimer’s progressed, it became nearly impossible to tend for his needs on her own. When Cui went missing one afternoon in the fall of 2015, it was apparent they couldn’t keep living as they...

• Side Effects of Trintellix

  What is Trintellix?Trintellix is an antidepressant used for the treatment of a type of mental disorder called major depressive disorder (MDD). The common side effects of this medication are:...

• What is Traumatic Cataract?

  Perhaps the most poorly recognized key health challenge today is trauma. In the developed world, trauma causes monocular blindness. Ocular injury otiology may vary from one urban area to another and therefore needs careful investigation. Any approach for preventing trauma requires familiarity with...

• What Is Pramipexole Used For?

  IntroductionPramipexole is a medication that has similar effects to dopamine, which is a chemical released by nerve cells. Parkinson's disease is associated with low levels of dopamine in the brain. Pramipexole is used to treat symptoms that are associated with Parkinson’s disease such as...

• 10 Year Old with Muscular Dystrophy Finishes the Columbus Marathon

  No matter what is against them, throughout history humans have proved time and time again that they can push past beyond their limits. Society has continue to defied odds, against prior dispositions and against what was ever imaginable by all of humankind.  The stories that make up this very...

• Breakthrough in Parkinson's Disease Research Allows Patients to Sleep During Deep Brain Stimulation

  Deep brain stimulation surgery has contributed to an improvement to the quality of life for patients with Parkinson's disease. This brain surgery reduces the patient's symptoms and tremors by inserting electrodes into the brain. The catch? The patient is awake during the 4-6 hour surgery. Under...