March 14, 2026, Filed Under: NewsA Conversation With Elias Rizk: Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery Rizk performing a craniotomy Elias Rizk, MD, PhD, MSc, is an esteemed pediatric neurosurgeon who last year became the co-chief of UT Health Austin Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children’s, chief of pediatric neurosurgery, and professor of neurosurgery at The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. The interview below provides a glimpse of Rizk’s extraordinary program vision, thoughtfulness, and humility. How did you become interested in pediatric neurosurgery? My interest in pediatric neurosurgery began with a keen interest in embryology and neuroscience, interests that grew during my graduate and postgraduate training. Pediatric neurosurgery is a special field because we have the opportunity to care for children who demonstrate such resilience and potential for recovery. Importantly, we can make a huge difference in their lives by preventing a disability and improving their quality of life. Another exciting aspect of the field is the rapidly advancing technologies that we use every day to improve patient care. Pediatric neurosurgery is truly a calling. We work with children and their families, helping them through some of the most difficult times in their lives. What are some of the challenges you have faced as a pediatric neurosurgeon? Pediatric neurosurgery is extremely rewarding, but it also presents its own challenges. On the emotional side, taking care of kids and their families during life-changing events can be very difficult. It requires the ability to walk a tight rope between empathy, objectivity, and detachment. On the technical side, there is also the challenge of working with the smaller anatomical structures in kids. Other challenges include keeping up with the latest technology and providing equitable access to care. Rizk with pediatric neurology assistant chief Sara Pavitt, MD, at the annual pediatric neurosciences Super (Neuro) Bowl UT Health Austin Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children’s is a fairly new program with an emerging academic reputation. What led you here? After more than a decade at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, where I was the chief of pediatric neurosurgery, I was ready for the next challenge in an exciting setting. I was attracted to UT Austin and Dell Children’s because, from my first encounter, I could sense the momentum and enthusiasm here. Everything about these institutions feels like they are on the move. Everyone from administration on down is committed and working together to create something very special. There is also Austin’s spirit of innovation combined with the powerful partnership between Dell Medical School and the Ascension system. Since my arrival in January of 2025, it has been an experience unlike any other. Everyone is eager about their field and dedicated to providing care of the highest caliber. Here, I have the ability to work as part of a team that gives children their best opportunity not only to survive but to thrive. With the focus on innovation at Dell Medical School, what excites you most about the pediatric neurosciences program? We have an amazing team of highly committed people. I am also excited about the opportunity to break new ground in pediatric neurosurgery with technology. At Dell Children’s, we have virtually every innovative technology, including a recently added intraoperative MRI. Along with Brainlab’s in-built navigation technology, this enables real-time modifications during surgery, promoting safety and enabling more precise surgical treatments for children with complex conditions such as tumors or epilepsy. In the future, I am eager to apply our translational work across several areas, including craniofacial defects, brain masses, imaging, and hydrocephalus based on in-house translational work done at Dell Children’s. Rizk with colleagues at the 2025 IMPRES epilepsy research conference You have a special interest in mentoring future neurosurgeons. How have your own mentors shaped the way you mentor and advise others today? Mentoring is one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in my career. I am privileged to work with brilliant minds. My experience is influenced by people such as Jerry Oakes, Mark Dias, Kimberly Harbaugh, Benny Iskandar, and others. They showed me how to take a mentee’s words to heart and foster them. Their support and mentorship demonstrated how to foster an open environment that helps mentees find growth opportunities. Like my own mentors, I mentor by creating access, providing feedback, and practicing a work-life balance. This approach allows me to inspire students not only to perform well in their field but also to lead with empathy, just as I did with them. Rizk participating in games at the annual pediatric neurosciences retreat Where do you see this program in the next five to ten years? In the coming years, I would like to see our pediatric neurosciences program become a nationwide destination for complex pediatric neurological care. Our team will work extremely hard to ensure that not a single kid from Central Texas needs to leave the area to receive world-class care. We are also committed to enhancing our fellowship and residency opportunities and extending our research program in areas such as genetic disorders and regenerative medicine. While our goal is to become a renowned academic medical center, we also aim to be a superb hospital for our extended community and a place where children come first. I can merely say I am honored to be a part of it.
February 17, 2026, Filed Under: NewsSave the Date: Seventh Annual Practical Pediatric Neuroscience Symposium Karen Evankovich, PhD, presenting at the sixth Annual Symposium The seventh annual Practical Pediatric Neuroscience Symposium will be held May 2, 2026, at Dell Children’s with virtual access. The target audience is general pediatric practitioners who care for children with a wide range of neurological disorders. This free event will feature interactive presentations by pediatric neuroscience faculty on a broad range of topics, from the causes and treatment of autism to CNS infections related to vaccine-preventable diseases. Each presentation will provide specific techniques and evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis and management. Details on registration and CME forthcoming. Access the presentations and slides from last year’s symposium here.
February 14, 2026, Filed Under: NewsResearch Power Couple Studies How Brain Circuit Processing Is Altered in Neurodevelopmental Disorders MacKenzie Howard, PhD Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD Work by our research power couple, MacKenzie Howard, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology and neuroscience, and Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology, focuses on understanding neurodevelopmental disorders at the cellular and molecular levels. By defining how different brain circuits process information and how that information processing is altered in neurodevelopmental disorders, their team hopes to uncover new ways of shifting brain cell activity from the disordered processing back toward the normal state. In two recently published articles, the team defined differences between two separate subcircuits within the connections between the prefrontal cortex and the mediodorsal thalamus, a processing network involved in controlling higher functions such as cognition, learning, and social behavior. Different properties of neurons in the thalamic subregions shift the timing of cell responses, changing the type of information these two different circuits extract (Lyuboslavsky et al. 2024). They next studied a genetically engineered mouse model of fragile X syndrome. In these animals, brain cells in one of the subcircuits are altered while those in the other subcircuit are not (Ordemann et al. 2025). This vital work is improving our understanding of how and where such disorders take root and may facilitate the development of future therapies. Further work by the Brumback-Howard team has explored the roots of neurodevelopmental disorders in brain areas that are often overlooked. The cerebellum has long been known for its role in coordinating and learning movements, but its role in learning and memory, cognition, social behavior, and language is less well known. The team studied a genetically engineered mouse model of Dravet syndrome, which typically causes severe epilepsy, disabling movement disorders, developmental and intellectual regression, and autism. They discovered that while the seizures associated with Dravet syndrome likely arise in the cortex and hippocampus, many of its other manifestations may arise from altered neural activity in the cerebellum (Guillén et al. 2025). These findings may shift and guide the priorities for therapy development to focus on the cerebellum and other brain structures that are rarely considered in neurodevelopmental disorders.
February 10, 2026, Filed Under: NewsHardy Spearheads CNS Special Interest Group Assistant neurology professor and pediatric neuroimmunologist Duriel Hardy, MD, led the creation of a Child Neurology Society special interest group focusing on the transition from pediatric care to adult care. Hardy has a long-standing interest in transition of care for adolescents with neurological disorders and recently published a paper in the Journal of Child Neurology on transition needs among youth with neuroimmune disorders. CNS members who are interested in joining the new SIG can contact Hardy at duriel.hardy@austin.utexas.edu.
February 4, 2026, Filed Under: NewsMaher Presents Timothy M. George, MD, Memorial Lecture Cormac Maher, MD (middle) with Dell Medical School neurosurgery faculty members (L to R) Juan Ortega-Barnett, MD, Nicholas Barbaro, MD, Kevin Kumar, MD, PhD, and Elias Rizk, MD, PhD, MSc The fourth annual Timothy M. George, MD, Memorial Lecture, held at Dell Children’s on November 8, was presented by Cormac O. Maher, MD, chief of neurosurgery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Botha Chan Endowed Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. Maher’s keynote lecture on current controversies in Chiari malformation was part of the Timothy M. George, MD, Memorial Lecture and Research Symposium: The Economics of Pediatric Health Care. Maher opened the symposium with reflections on Timothy George, a professor of neurosurgery at Dell Medical School and a pediatric neurosurgeon at Dell Children’s who died unexpectedly in 2019. “I interacted with him extensively in neurosurgery spheres,” Maher said. “He always talked to you on your level. When I was coming into the field, he would introduce you to everybody and get you involved in whatever research was going on. He was really an amazing person, and his patients loved him.” Previous memorial lecture guest speakers have included Susan Durham, MD, MS, professor of clinical neurological surgery at Keck School of Medicine of USC and chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; John (Jay) Wellons III, MD, MSPH, professor of neurological surgery and pediatrics and chief of pediatric neurological surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Bermans Iskandar, MD, professor and chair of pediatric neurosurgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Maher receiving the Timothy George lectureship with Kumar
February 3, 2026, Filed Under: NewsWelcome, Dr. Somekh Welcome to Melanie Somekh, PhD, MA, who completed her clinical pediatric neuropsychology fellowship through our program last year and now joins us full time. Dr. Somekh is an assistant professor of neurology and a neuropsychologist with expertise in early childhood neurodevelopment and Spanish/English bilingual neuropsychological assessment. She is skilled in adapting assessment procedures to ensure culturally responsive evaluations. Dr. Somekh received her Master of Arts and PhD in clinical psychology from Fordham University in New York, then completed predoctoral training in neuropsychology at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She completed her psychology internship with emphasis in neuropsychology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and her postdoctoral fellowship in clinical pediatric neuropsychology at Dell Medical School. Dr. Somekh is widely published and is a member of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, International Neuropsychological Society, Hispanic Neuropsychological Society, and American Psychological Association. In 2022, she received an American Epilepsy Society (AES) Young Investigator Award.
January 30, 2026, Filed Under: NewsFour Faculty Members Named Castle Connolly 2026 Top Doctors We are proud to announce that four of our pediatric neuroscience providers were named Castle Connolly Top Doctors: Dave Clarke, MD; Jane Edmond, MD; Louisa Keith, MD; and E. Steve Roach, MD. Castle Connolly Top Doctors represent the top 7% of all US practicing physicians and are peer nominated through surveys sent out to tens of thousands of doctors. Those results are rigorously vetted by a research team of Castle Connolly physicians based on several factors.
January 17, 2026, Filed Under: NewsCerebral Palsy Clinic Hosts Second Annual Symposium (L to R) Faheem Mahomed, MD, rehabilitation program administrator Regina Sorkin, BSN, RN, Jackie James, OT, ATP, Catherine Harrison, PT, DPT, Allan Lara, MD, and Glendaliz Bosques, MD The Dell Children’s Comprehensive Cerebral Palsy Clinic hosted its second annual Pediatric Cerebral Palsy Symposium on January 10 at Dell Children’s. The conference educated community therapists on the treatment and management of spasticity, dystonia, and movement disorders across the continuum of care. Presentations included “Early Childhood Cerebral Palsy” by assistant professors of neurology Leah Ferrante, MD, and Allan Lara, MD; “Pediatric Mobility and Seating: Best Practices for Early Intervention and Advocacy” by Dell Children’s Pediatric Rehabilitation Center therapy program manager Catherine Harrison, PT, DPT, and Jackie James, OT, ATP; and “Lower Extremity Spasticity Management: Serial Casting, Toxin, and Orthopedic Referral” by assistant professor of neurology Faheem Mahomed, MD.“We are excited that we impacted a greater number of therapists with our educational offerings this year,” said Glendaliz Bosques, MD, chief of the pediatric rehabilitation medicine program. “We value collaboration with community therapists who are dedicated to excellent patient care and hope to continue offering these opportunities.”
January 13, 2026, Filed Under: NewsFerrante Featured in Neurology Today Article on White Matter Development in Preterm Infants Assistant neurology professor and neonatal neurologist Leah Ferrante, MD, was a featured expert commentator in a Neurology Today article entitled “Skin-to-Skin Care May Impact White Matter Development in Preterm Infants.” The article reported on a recent Neurology publication whose authors found an association between skin-to-skin care and neonatal white matter microstructure in frontolimbic tracts involved in socioemotional development and stress regulation. Ferrante told Neurology Today that the findings affirm what she and other clinicians see in the NICU and in long-term outcomes.
January 10, 2026, Filed Under: NewsWelcome, Dr. Xu Join us in welcoming Lori Xu, MD, a pediatric neurologist who specializes in pediatric stroke. Dr. Xu is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology. She graduated with an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, then earned her medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She completed her pediatric neurology residency at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and a fellowship in pediatric stroke at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Her research interests include Moyamoya disease.
