Child Neurology: Discoveries and Practice

American Academy of NeurologyChild Neurology Society

AAN Education & Research FoundationChild Neurology Foundation

Presenters Bios:

Stephen Ashwal, MD, Professor and Chief of the Division of Child Neurology in the Department of Pediatrics at Loma Linda University School of Medicine Dr. Ashwal has been a member of the Child Neurology Society since 1975. He has served as chair of the Scientific Selection, Ethics, and Archives Committees. He also edited The Founders of Child Neurology; a book, published on behalf of the Society in 1990, that contained biographical sketches of 124 individuals who made major contributions to the field.

His research activities have focused on critical care issues in child neurology related to brain death, the vegetative state, bacterial meningitis and near drowning, the role of nitric oxide in focal cerebral ischemia and recently, the use of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy for outcome prediction after acute CNS injuries in children. He has served as co-chair of The Multi-Society Task Force on the Persistent Vegetative State that published important guidelines related to the evaluation and care of patients in this condition (1994). He is a member of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and is responsible for guiding and developing practice parameters concerning children with neurological disorders such as autism, headaches, global developmental delay, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and muscular dystrophy. Dr. Ashwal is co-editor, with Dr. Kenneth Swaiman of Pediatric Neurology: Principles and Practice (1999), one of the standard texts on the field of child neurology.

Patrick D. Barnes, MD, Chief of Pediatric Neurology and Associate Professor of Radiology, Stanford University Medical CenterDr. Barnes received undergraduate and MD degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology in Oklahoma, and a fellowship in pediatric neuroradiology and cardiovascular radiology at Childrens' Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. He has been a visiting professor at more than 14 universities, including some in New Zealand and Australia.

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He participated in the development of practice guidelines on Management of Children Younger Than Two Years of Age with Minor Head Trauma, and Neuroimaging of the Neonate. Dr. Barnes is past president of the American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology. He is a frequent lecturer and a prolific contributor to many medical journals

William C. Mobley, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. After completing undergraduate training in Chemistry and Zoology at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, William C. Mobley received the MD and a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University. Dr. Mobley trained in Pathology and Pediatrics at the Stanford University Hospital and completed a residency and fellowship in Neurology at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, where he also was chief resident in Pediatric Neurology. In 1985, he joined the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine where he rose to the rank of Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and the Neuroscience Program and served as the Director of Child Neurology. In 1991, he was named Derek Denny Brown Scholar of the American Neurological Association.

Since 1997 he has been the chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University and holds the John E. Cahill Family Endowed Chair. He also serves as co-director of the Stanford Brain Research Institute. His laboratory studies the signaling biology of neurotrophic factors in the normal brain and in animal models of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. He is the recipient of both the Zenith Award and the Temple Award from the Alzheimer’s Association and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Dr. Mobley serves as editor of the Neurobiology of Disease, as a member of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics and as president of the Association of University Professors of Neurology.

Donna M. Ferriero, MD, Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics and a member of the graduate program in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California-San Francisco. She is currently vice chair of the Department of Neurology and director of the Child Neurology Division and Residency Program. She received her BA and MS degrees from Rutgers University and her MD degree from the University of California-San Francisco. She completed her child neurology training with Dr. Bruce O. Berg at UCSF, and a postdoctoral research fellowship with Dr. Stephen Sagar at UCSF before joining the faculty of the departments of Neurology and Pediatrics as an assistant professor in 1987. She has been

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honored at UCSF as a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Academic Senate, and the Chancellors Award for the Advancement of Women. She received the Sidney Carter Award from the American Academy of Neurology in 2000.

Dr. Ferriero is the director of the Neonatal Brain Disorders Center at UCSF that is funded by NINDS to study the mechanisms of ischemic injury in the neonatal brain. This center combines human research, whole animal studies, and in vitro technologies to study the pathogenesis of ischemic injury during central nervous system development. Dr. Ferriero's laboratory has been critical in defining the role of the nitric oxide synthase neurons in the genesis of the injury seen in the developing brain. Her current work on the role of oxidative stress has shown that, unlike the mature nervous system, the immature brain is uniquely sensitive to certain oxidative stressors. Her laboratory efforts have led her to ask questions regarding outcome after perinatal hypoxia-ischemia in humans, and studies are ongoing in colloboration with A.J. Barkovich MD to evaluate MRI and MRS patterns that predict neurological outcome.

Pauline A. Filipek, MD, University of California Irvine Medical Center, received her BS from Georgetown University and her MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She completed a pediatric residency, including a Chief Residency, at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and a (child) neurology residency and MRI-Morphometry Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School. She remained at Massachusetts General Hospital on faculty until she was recruited to the University of California, Irvine, Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology in 1994.

Dr. Filipek clinically specializes in children with developmental disorders, particularly autism. Her research interests focus on the neurobiology of the developmental disorders. She uses magnetic resonance imaging to investigate anomalous brain development in these disorders, and has authored many publications on these topics. She has received many grant awards from the National Institutes of Health and other foundations such as the National Alliance for Autism Research. Dr. Filipek and colleagues have been awarded several NIH grants totaling over $6 million to study the Neurobiology and Genetics of Autism. Most recently, Dr. Filipek was the recipient of a $3 million grant from the Children and Families Commission of Orange County to improve early recognition and treatment of young children with autism.

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Dr. Filipek is the Chair of the American Academy of Neurology/ Child Neurology Society committee to determine practice parameters for Treatment of Autism, and served as the chair of the committee that published the practice parameters, Screening and Diagnosis of Autism, last year. She also served on the National Academy of Science Committee on Educational Interventions for Autistic Children.

Deborah Hirtz, MD, Director, Clinical Trials-NINDS/NIH, received her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago and medical degree at Hahnemann Medical College. She is board-certified in pediatrics and neurology, and trained in pediatrics and neurology at the Children's Hospital Medical Center and George Washington University in Washington, DC. Since that time, she has been at NINDS, and has also been a clinical consultant in child neurology for the Montgomery Health Department and the National Children's Center. Her interests include clinical trials, seizure disorders in children, autism and other developmental disorders, cerebral palsy, other neurological disorders of infants and children, and optical imaging.

Douglas R. Nordli Jr., MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology and Clinical Pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. He is also Director of the Children’s Epilepsy Center and the Lorna S. and James P. Langdon Chair of Pediatric Epilepsy at The Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Dr. Nordli received his medical degree from Columbia University in New York. His postgraduate training included a residency in child neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He also completed a clinical fellowship in neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York. Dr. Nordli is certified diplomate by the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (with special qualification in child neurology), and the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology in electroencephalography and evoked potentials.

Dr. Nordli has written numerous abstracts, book chapters, and articles for such journals as Epilepsia, Annals of Neurology and Pediatrics. In addition, Dr. Nordli has lectured nationally on multiple topics related to pediatric epilepsy, including the diagnosis of infantile seizures and epilepsy treatment options. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Child Neurology Society, American Academy of Neurology, and the American Epilepsy Society.

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