Peter B. Kang, MD

Professor, Vice Chair of Research

Director, Greg Marzolf Jr. Muscular Dystrophy Center

Scholar, Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN)

Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Health Informatics

Steering Committee, Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)

Graduate Faculty, Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN)

Graduate Faculty, Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)

[email protected]

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Professor, Vice Chair of Research

Director, Greg Marzolf Jr. Muscular Dystrophy Center

Scholar, Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN)

Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Health Informatics

Steering Committee, Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)

Graduate Faculty, Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN)

Graduate Faculty, Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)

Contact

Administrative

Samantha Cozine, [email protected]

Clinic

Neurology Central Line: 612-626-6688
Discovery Clinic: 612-365-6777

Additional Links

Kang Research Lab

M Health Fairview Clinical Profile

Experts@MN Research Profile

Muscular Dystrophy Center

Department of Neurology

Biography

Peter B. Kang, MD is a pediatric neuromuscular neurologist and physician-scientist whose laboratory studies the genetics and disease mechanisms of muscular dystrophy and DNA repair disorders, with the goal of discovering new therapeutic targets for these diseases. His laboratory has particular interests in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD), rare muscle diseases associated with the Notch signaling pathway and cholesterol metabolism, and Cockayne syndrome. He has published extensively on these subjects, has co-edited a textbook of pediatric electromyography, and has been awarded multiple grants from the NIH and the Muscular Dystrophy Association to support his investigations. With support from the CDC, he led the successful initiation of the first site in Florida for the MD STARnet consortium and continues to work on this project. His former trainees hold faculty positions in the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Japan. He is Editor of Neurology® Genetics, and previously served as President of the Child Neurology Society and as Secretary-Treasurer of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Previously, Dr. Kang was Professor of Pediatrics, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurology, and Director of the Child Neurology Residency Program at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Earlier in his career, he was Director of the Electromyography Laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.

In clinic, Dr. Kang sees children with confirmed or suspected neuromuscular disorders such as muscular dystrophy, congenital myopathy, Pompe disease, brachial plexus injuries, spinal muscular atrophy, myasthenia gravis, and neuropathies including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, as well as children with DNA repair disorders such as Cockayne syndrome, trichothiodystrophy, and xeroderma pigmentosum. He will see adult patients with these conditions upon request.

Specialty

Muscle Physiology - IBP

Education

Publications

Selected Publications

Bruels CC, Littel HR, Daugherty AL, Stafki S, Estrella EA, McGaughy ES, Truong D, Badalamenti JP, Pais L, Ganesh VS, O’Donnell-Luria A, Stalker HJ, Wang Y, Collins C, Behlmann A, Lemmers RJLF, van der Maarel SM, Laine R, Ghosh PS, Darras BT, Zingariello CD, Pacak CA, Kunkel LM, Kang PB. Diagnostic capabilities of nanopore long read sequencing in muscular dystrophy. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 2022;9:1302-1309. PMID: 35734998.

Stafki SA, Turner J, Littel HR, Bruels CC, Truong D, Knirsch U, Stettner GM, Graf U, Berger W, Kinali M, Jungbluth H, Pacak CA, Hughes J, Mirchi A, Derksen A, Vincent-Delorme C, Theil AF, Bernard G, Ellis D, Fassihi H, Lehmann A, Laugel V, Mohammed S, Kang PB. The spectrum of MORC2-related disorders: a potential link to Cockayne syndrome. Pediatric Neurology 2023;141:79-86. PMID: 36791574.

Nascimento A, Bruels CC, Donkervoort S, Foley AR, Codina A, Milisenda JC, Estrella EA, Li C, Pijuan J, Draper I, Hu Y, Stafki SA, Pais LS, Ganesh VS, O’Donnell-Luria A, Syeda SB, Carrera-García, Expósito-Escudero J, Yubero D, Martorell L, Pinal-Fernandez I, Lidov HGW, Mammen AL, Grau-Junyent JM, Ortez C, Palau F, Ghosh PS, Darras BT, Jou C, Kunkel LM, Hoenicka J, Bönnemann CG, Kang PB, Natera-de Benito D. Variants in DTNA cause a mild, dominantly inherited muscular dystrophy. Acta Neuropathologica 2023;145:479-496. PMID: 36799992.

Kang PB, Jorand-Fletcher M, Zhang W, McDermott S, Berry R, Chambers C, Wong K, Mohamed Y, Thomas S, Venkatesh YS, Westfield C, Whitehead N, Johnson NE, Muscular Dystrophy Surveillance, Tracking, and Research Network (MD STARnet). Genetic patterns of selected muscular dystrophies in the Muscular Dystrophy Surveillance, Tracking, and Research Network. Neurology Genetics 2023;9:e200113. PMID: 38045992

Rajamani G, Stafki SA, Daugherty AL, Mantyh WG, Littel HR, Bruels CC, Pacak CA, Robbins PD, Niedernhofer LJ, Abiona A, Giunti P, Mohammed S, Laugel V, Kang PB. Cognitive decline and other late-stage neurologic complications of Cockayne syndrome. Neurology Clinical Practice 2024;14:e200309. PMID: 38808024.

Turner J, Bruels CC, Daugherty AL, Estrella EA, Stafki S, Syeda SB, Littel HR, Pais L, Ganesh VS, Lidov HGW, Paine SML, Maddison P, Harrison RE, Straub V, Ghosh PS, Pacak CA, Kunkel LM, Draper I, Topf A, Kang PB. Dominant stop-loss HNRNPA1 variants in juvenile-onset myopathy. Muscle & Nerve 2024;70:843-850. PMID: 39072769.

Rajamani G, Pillai NR, Stafki SA, Karachunski PI, Kang PB. Predicting the phenotype of Pompe disease from features of GAA variants. European Journal of Human Genetics 2025;33:688-691. PMID: 39775060.

Nelson RW, Cox CA, Stark MM, Johnson AD, Sichmeller K, Earhart J, Ihinger JM, Stafki SA, Karachunski PI, Kang PB*. Reduction of pre-existing AAV9 antibody titers prior to onasemnogene abeparvovec administration in twins with spinal muscular atrophy. Neurology 2025;105:e213899. PMID: 40705999.

Gunasekaran M, Littel HR, Wells NM, Turner J, Campos G, Venigalla S, Estrella EA, Ghosh PS, Daugherty AL, Stafki SA, Kunkel LM, Foley AR, Donkervoort S, Bönnemann CG, Toledo-Bravo de Laguna L, Nascimento A, Natera-de Benito D, Draper I, Bruels CC, Pacak CA*, Kang PB*. Effects of HMG CoA reductase (HMGCR) deficiency on skeletal muscle development. FEBS Journal 2025;292:4854-4869. PMID: 39823152.

Gunasekaran M, Campos G, Wells NM, Lambuu K, Draper I, Pacak CA, Kang PB*. ACSS2 involved in acetyl-CoA synthesis regulates skeletal muscle function. FEBS Letters 2025;epub September 12. PMID: 40936396.

Littel HR, Gunasekaran M, Daugherty AL, Wells NM, Turner J, Bruels CC, Pacak CA, Draper I, Kang PB*. The impact of Hnrnpl deficiency on transcriptional patterns of developing muscle cells. FEBS Open Bio 2025;epub September 13. PMID: 40944391.