Dell Medical School Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children's
UT Shield

Dell Medical School Pediatric Neuroscience Program

Promoting discovery and innovation in the pediatric neurosciences

carousel

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Pediatric Psychology Internship Program Awarded Highest Level of APA Reaccreditation

Amanda Winter-Greenberg, PhD, ABPP

The Dell Medical School/Dell Children’s Medical Center Psychology Internship program was awarded reaccreditation for 10 years by the American Psychological Association. The internship is housed in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and is co-directed by Sasha Jaquez, PhD, Ankita Krishnan, PhD, and pediatric neuropsychologist Amanda Winter-Greenberg, PhD, ABPP, an assistant professor of neurology who supervises the internship program’s neuropsychology rotation.

The accreditation is the highest level awarded by the APA and signifies that the program adheres to the Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology.

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Austin Appointed Chief of Pediatric Neuropsychology

Cynthia Austin, PhD, ABPP

Cynthia Austin, PhD, ABPP, assistant professor of neurology and neuropsychologist in the Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic and the Dell Children’s Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion Clinic, was appointed chief of the nine-member division of pediatric neuropsychology in October.

Austin earned her master’s in program evaluation and her doctorate in school psychology from The University of Texas at Austin. She completed an internship in pediatric neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology from Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her research interests include parent experience and satisfaction with the neuropsychological assessment process as well as predictors and outcomes of traumatic brain injury.

Congratulations, Dr. Austin!

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Pediatric Neurosciences Co-Sponsors Second Annual NF Family Day

NF Family Day presenters (L to R) Sasha Jaquez, PhD; Kendra Koch, PhD; Virginia Harrod, MD, PhD; Sage T. Green, DO; and Manikum Moodley, MD

The second annual Neurofibromatosis Family Day Meeting was held October 28 at Dell Children’s. Co-sponsored by the Dell Children’s Neurofibromatosis Center of Excellence, the pediatric neurosciences program, and the Children’s Tumor Foundation, this meeting allowed patient families affected by NF to learn the latest developments in clinical care and research through presentations and breakout sessions. Pediatric neuroscience presenters included Manikum Moodley, MD, professor of neurology and co-director of the Neurofibromatosis Center of Excellence; clinical research administrator Kendra Koch, PhD; and neurofibromatosis center coordinator Karla Robles-Lopez, MD, PhD.

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Welcome, Dr. Irwin!

Samantha Irwin, MSc, MB BCh BAO

Join us in welcoming Samantha Irwin, MB BCh, MSc, a pediatric neurologist who specializes in headache disorders, including posttraumatic headaches. Irwin is as an associate professor of neurology and the director of the Pediatric Headache Fellowship program at Dell Medical School.

Irwin earned her master’s in neuropsychology at Maastricht University and her medical degree at the School of Medicine Trinity College Dublin. She completed a pediatric neurology residency at the University of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, where she was chief resident, and a headache neurology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. Before coming to Austin, Irwin was an assistant professor of neurology and the Pediatric Headache Fellowship director at UCSF.

Irwin’s research focuses on clinical trials evaluating potential new treatments for headache disorders in children and adolescents. In addition, she is investigating the role of structured exercise as part of a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to treating pediatric headache.

Irwin is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, Child Neurology Society, American Headache Society, Canadian Headache Society, International Headache Academy, and International Child Neurology Association. She serves on the editorial board of Annals of the Child Neurology Society.

, Filed Under: carousel, News

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.

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Pediatric Neurosciences Sponsors Sixth Annual Women in Neuroscience Internship


May Tun, Emanuela Ilboudo, Karen Ramos, and Rosario DeLeon, PhD

WiNterns Karen Ramos, Emanuela Ilboudo, and May Tun

Emanuela Ilboudo, Dave Clarke, MD, and May Tun

This summer, 25 interns completed the sixth annual Women in Neuroscience (WiN) Summer Intensive internship program, supported by UT Austin’s Department of Neuroscience in the College of Natural Sciences and the Department of Neurology at Dell Medical School.

WiN’s eight-week paid internship encourages high school seniors and college students from historically underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in neuroscience and neurology. WiNterns from Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Huston- Tillotson University, and UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences partner with faculty mentors, attend daily seminars to build professional development skills, gain clinical and lab experience, and present their research at the conclusion of the program. They also receive ongoing mentorship.

Pediatric neuroscience faculty mentors this year included Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD (autism), Dave Clarke, MD (pediatric epilepsy), Rosario DeLeon, PhD (pediatric neuropsychology), and Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, MD, PhD (pediatric neurosurgery). E. Steve Roach, MD, taught a half-day course on biomedical writing.

“Being able to speak to numerous health care professionals gave me great insight into all the rewards and challenges of their careers,” said WiNtern Karen Ramos. “I gained so much knowledge from asking questions and seeing them treat patients. In addition, seeing men and women from different ethnic backgrounds excelling in their specialty is motivating. Now I know I can do this!”

For more information on WiN, visit www.neurowomen.org or follow the organization on X @helloNeuroWomen.


Karen Ramos, Emanuela Ilboudo, OR nurse Shannon Neely, RN, and surgical technician Tracy Losoya

, Filed Under: carousel, News

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.

, Filed Under: carousel, News

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!

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Resident Places Third in Texas Neurological Society Poster Competition

Khushboo Verma, MBBS, PGY-4, and E. Steve Roach, MD, at the TNS 2023 Winter Conference

Congratulations to pediatric neurology resident Khushboo Verma, MBBS, whose poster entitled “Imaging and Psychometric Evidence to Support the Clinical Dementia Grading” received third place in the Texas Neurological Society’s winter conference resident poster competition.

Verma’s research explores the neural and behavioral basis of clinical dementia rating scales and proposes a computational model of dementia that explains most dementia-related variance observed in Pittsburgh compound B (PIB) PET imaging. She was the only Dell Med resident to receive a prize.

, Filed Under: carousel, News

Edmond Named President-Elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology

Jane Edmond, MD, was recently named president-elect of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and will serve as AAO President in 2024. Edmond hopes to leverage her role as President to address the increasing staffing and physician shortages and to advocate for expanding access to ophthalmologic care locally and nationwide, in part by recruiting equity-driven residents to the field. 

Edmond has practiced pediatric ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmology for 32 years. She is the director of the Mitchel and Shannon Wong Eye Institute at Dell Medical School, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, and a past president of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. She has served in many leadership roles within the AAO, including Trustee-at-Large from 2012 to 2017.

Congratulations, Dr. Edmond!

×