Dr. Linnoila received a BS in computer science from the University of Chicago. She then completed the MD/PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh after a year of study at Cambridge University (in the UK). She did her internship in internal medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. She completed her neurology residency in the Partners combined Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals program in 2014. The year after, she completed a fellowship in Autoimmune Neurology at the Mayo Clinic. While in residency, she was awarded a two-year R25 grant for neuroimmunology research from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) part of the National Institutes of Health, which she completed upon returning to MGH. In addition to the Rappaport Foundation, her research is also currently funded by a K08 award through NINDS.

Clinically, Dr. Linnoila is establishing a practice in autoimmune and paraneoplastic neurologic disorders. Her research interests lie in better understanding the interaction between the immune and nervous systems. In particular, she is interested in the intersection between infectious and autoimmune neurology, developing an animal model of postinfectious autoimmune encephalitis.