Colin Franz MD, PhD

About Me

Dr. Colin Franz is a physician-scientist with fellowship training and board certifications in neuromuscular medicine, electrodiagnostic medicine, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. He serves as the director of the electrodiagnostic laboratory at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab hospital, as well as a staff physician in the Lois Insolia ALS clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Dr. Franz has a strong interest in complex peripheral nerve injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, diaphragm muscle dysfunction, neuromuscular ultrasound, and activity-based treatments for neural restoration. His laboratory team takes a highly technology-oriented approach to personalize rehabilitation medicine, drawing inspiration from the patients under their care. The current studies in Dr. Franz's research encompass a wide range of topics, including transient (resorbable) implanted devices for delivering therapeutics directly to regenerating axons, as well as the generation of human neurons from patient-derived pluripotent stem cells to isolate and understand how individual genetic differences impact neurotrauma outcomes and regenerative capacity. Dr. Franz's research receives support from esteemed organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Neuromuscular Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Belle Carnell Regenerative Neurorehabilitation fund.