Dell Medical School Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children's
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Dell Medical School Pediatric Neuroscience Program

Promoting discovery and innovation in the pediatric neurosciences

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Drs. Gettig and Austin Create Official THSCA Concussion Competencies Training Presentation

Kelly Gettig, APRN, DNP (middle) at the recent Texas High School Coaches Association press conference with Adam Bauman, vice president of Orthopedics, Sports & Rehabilitation Services of Ascension Texas, and THSCA executive director Joe Martin.

On July 17, the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) announced at its annual conference that Dell Children’s Medical Center will be its Official Medical Wellness Provider. As part of the new partnership’s educational initiatives, assistant neurology professors Kelly Gettig, APRN, DNP, and Cynthia Austin, PhD, ABPP, of the Dell Children’s traumatic brain injury/concussion clinic collaborated with Ascension Sports Performance to create the THSCA’s official Concussion Competencies training presentation, designed to fulfill the state’s concussion education requirement for high school coaches, teachers, and athletic trainers.

Dr. Gettig and Dr. Austin presented on active rehabilitation following concussion at the THSCA conference and were interviewed by Bally Sports on the topic. Dr. Gettig also participated in a press conference with Adam Bauman, vice president of Orthopedics, Sports & Rehabilitation Services of Ascension Texas, and Joe Martin, THSCA’s executive director.

Kelly Gettig, DNP, APRN
Kelly Gettig, DNP, APRN
Cynthia Austin, PhD, ABPP
Cynthia Austin, PhD, ABPP

Through the partnership, Dr. Gettig and Dr. Austin will advocate for return-to-play legislation that reflects best practice for concussion management.

“We believe our role as a specialty clinic is to improve outcomes for every adolescent athlete with concussion by ensuring they have access to active rehabilitation as soon as possible following injury,” said Dr. Gettig. “Our partnership with THSCA is a direct pipeline to achieve that goal for athletes throughout Texas.”

Read more about the Dell Children’s and THSCA partnership in the THSCA’s official announcement.

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Welcome, Drs. Ortman and Ferrante!

Join us in welcoming two new colleagues to our program:

Chelsey Ortman, MD
Leah Ferrante, MD

Chelsey Ortman, MD, joins our Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Center as an assistant professor of neurology at Dell Medical School. Ortman earned her medical degree from Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, GA. After her pediatrics and child neurology training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she completed fellowships in pediatric epilepsy and advanced clinical neurophysiology at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. She is board certified in neurology with special qualification in child neurology and is a member of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, American Epilepsy Society, Child Neurology Society, and American Academy of Neurology.

Leah Ferrante, MD, joins the Pediatric Neurosciences Program as an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology. After receiving her medical degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine, she completed a pediatrics residency and a neurodevelopmental disabilities residency at Baylor College of Medicine. Most recently, she completed a fetal and neonatal neurology fellowship at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She is certified in neurology with special qualification in child neurology and is board eligible for certification in neurodevelopmental disabilities. She is a member of the Texas Neurological Society, Newborn Brain Society, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Academy of Neurology.

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Roach Named to Distinguished Educators Academy

Congratulations to E. Steve Roach, MD, Chief of UT Health Austin Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children’s, for being selected as a member of Dell Medical School’s Sue Cox, M.D. Academy of Distinguished Educators. The academy was created to recognize Dell Medical School’s most outstanding educators and educational leaders, to support the medical school’s growing community of teachers, and to foster excellence at the leading edge of medical education.

Dr. Roach will be inducted at the annual Dell Med Educational Innovation, Research & Awards Symposium on October 2, 2023.

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How Do Epilepsy Center Characteristics Affect Epilepsy Surgery Utilization?

Nearly a third of people with epilepsy continue having seizures despite adequate trials of multiple antiseizure medications. Many of these individuals with medically refractory epilepsy benefit from various palliative and potentially curative surgical procedures. Although the number of centers offering surgery for epilepsy has increased dramatically in the last couple of decades, surgical treatment remains underutilized. 

Kristen Arredondo, MD, and colleagues analyzed data from the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) to determine how epilepsy center characteristics affected access to different types of epilepsy surgery and surgery volumes. The dataset included information from 206 adult epilepsy center directors and 136 pediatric epilepsy center directors.

Arredondo and colleagues provide a wealth of useful information. Geographic location of the center, center accreditation level, institution type, demographics, and available resources influenced the access and the rates of potentially curative and palliative surgical interventions. The likelihood of undergoing potentially curative procedures (e.g., temporal lobectomy, extratemporal resection, hemispherectomy or hemispherotomy, and laser interstitial thermal therapy) was higher in centers with image-guided robotics and magnetoencephalography. Except for hemispherectomy and hemispherotomy, potentially curative procedures were more likely to occur in centers with a greater number of epilepsy specialists with at least two years of epilepsy fellowship training. Extratemporal resection, hemispherectomy, and hemispherotomy were all more likely to occur in pediatric centers than in adult centers, and hemispherectomy or hemispherotomy was only attempted in level 4 centers.

There are multiple reasons why surgical treatment of epilepsy is underutilized. Better understanding of the resources that make surgery for refractory epilepsy more feasible and the barriers that impede it may help us provide optimal care for more people.

Arredondo KH, Ahrens SM, Bagić AI, et al. on behalf of the NAEC Center Director Study Group. Association between characteristics of National Association of Epilepsy Centers and reported utilization of specific surgical techniques. Neurology 2023;100:e719-e727. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000201526

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Hardy Named Medical Clerkship Director, Child Neurology

Duriel Hardy, MD, is taking on a new role as medical clerkship director for child neurology medical students. In this role, he will coordinate and schedule MS4s (both Dell Med students and outside rotators) for neurology rotation. Dr. Hardy will also provide an educational lecture during the one-month rotation on child neurology and will help schedule the MS2s’ clinical child neurology rotation. In the future, he is hoping to revamp the educational portion of this rotation to include a child neurology–specific curriculum.

An assistant professor in the Department of Neurology, Dr. Hardy is a pediatric neuroimmunologist and co-director of our Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis and Related Neuroimmune Disorders Clinic. He joined our program two years ago after training at Duke University School of Medicine, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Congratulations, Dr. Hardy!

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Autism Research Program Receives Additional NIH Grant

The important role of genetics in autism development has become increasingly obvious. Many genes implicated in autism are so fundamental to basic neurobiology that species as diverse as worms and humans share them.

After discovering that natural variability in autism-related genes correlates with alterations in worm social behavior, Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD, pediatric neurologist and an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology, and Jon Pierce, PhD, in UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences, hypothesized that these changes could provide a way to rapidly screen potential treatments for individuals with specific genetic causes of autism.

Leveraging C. elegans as a minimum animal model, Brumback and Pierce can screen thousands of FDA-approved drugs to quickly and inexpensively identify personalized treatment for autism based on a patient’s genetic profile. They were recently awarded a three-year, $500,000 R01 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health entitled “High-Throughput Interrogation of Autism Risk Genes: From Molecules to Behavior” to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which autism genes influence worm social behavior.

This new grant builds on another recent $1,500,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for “Functional Architecture of the Mediodorsal Thalamus.” For this work, Brumback’s team will use mice to map the structure and function of a part of the thalamus that is thought to affect conditions such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia. Read more about that grant here.

Congratulations, Dr. Brumback!

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Clarke Participates in Health Improvement Leadership Program

“I am grateful for this opportunity to continue my longtime work with the National Association of Epilepsy Centers on expanding access to epilepsy care.”

Dave Clarke, MD, Chief of the Dell Children’s Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Center, has been selected to participate in Dell Medical School’s Courageous Leadership for Health Improvement, a 15-month experiential professional development program for individuals committed to health equity and improvement.

The program is designed to cultivate courageous leadership, influence systems, and drive nonpartisan policies and programs that affect health and community wellness. As part of the inaugural cohort, Clarke will participate in mentorship opportunities, health justice immersion experiences, and monthly didactic sessions with local, state, and national leaders.

“It has been a dream to engage with thought leaders such as Dr. Jewel Mullen, Associate Dean for Health Equity at Dell Medical School, in reducing disparities nationally,” Clarke said. “I am grateful for this opportunity to continue my longtime work with the National Association of Epilepsy Centers on expanding access to epilepsy care.”

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Freedman and Vedanarayanan Receive Teaching Awards

Epilepsy fellow Emily Ramirez, DO,
and Dan Freedman, DO
Vandana Vedanarayanan, MD

Daniel Freedman, DO, and Vandana Vedanarayanan, MD, assistant professors in the Department of Neurology, were recently honored with the 2023 Dell Medical School child neurology faculty teaching awards. Freedman was selected by the pediatric and adult neurology residents for their best resident teacher award. Vedanarayanan received the medical student teaching award, given to the child neurology faculty member with the highest average teaching scores from the students who spent time in our program.

Congratulations, Drs. Freedman and Vedanarayanan!

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“Time Is Brain”: Roach Featured in Austin American-Statesman for Pediatric Stroke Protocol Expertise

E. Steve Roach, MD

E. Steve Roach, MD, chief of UT Health Austin Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children’s, was recently interviewed by the Austin American-Statesman about a 13-year-old boy who suffered a stroke and about Dell Children’s pediatric stroke protocol. Dr. Roach wrote the first statement on pediatric strokes for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in 2007 and more recently established Dell Children’s stroke care plan, which has been adopted by several children’s hospitals in the country. Read the full story.

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Edmond Featured in Austin American-Statesman for Life-Changing Surgical Care

Pediatric neuro-ophthalmologist Jane Edmond, MD, pediatric neurosciences faculty member and director of the Mitchel and Shannon Wong Eye Institute, is one of the experts helping a six-year-old boy have a more typical life through surgeries to improve his vision and reduce bullying. Read more about the life-changing care she has been providing for this child with Pfeiffer syndrome in the Austin American-Statesman.

Thank you, Dr. Edmond, for your dedication to children like Holden.

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