November 7, 2022, Filed Under: NewsBrumback Invited to Co-Chair Brain Research Summit Session Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD, pediatric neurologist and assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at Dell Medical School, has been invited to co-chair a session on neurodevelopmental disease at The University of Texas Systemwide Brain Research Summit on November 8, 2022. The summit brings together national leaders, researchers from across UT’s 13 institutions, and key partners for collaborative discussions around advancing brain research in Texas. Keynote speakers include Walter Koroshetz, MD, Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and Joshua Gordon, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institute on Mental Health. Brumback’s session, co-chaired with Jenny Hsieh, PhD, of UT San Antonio, will focus on autism and its relationship to mental illness.
November 3, 2022, Filed Under: NewsDr. Sara Pavitt Launches Headache Lectureship Series Dell Children’s Pediatric Headache Center chief Sara Pavitt, MD, and Irene Patniyot, MD, of Texas Children’s Hospital have created the International Pediatric Headache Didactic Series, a recurring virtual series featuring lectures delivered by headache faculty from around the world on relevant topics for anyone wanting to learn more about headache medicine. Lectures are held every other Friday from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. CT throughout the 2022-2023 academic year and are co-moderated by Pavitt and Patniyot. Sign up for the series here or scan the QR code.
October 21, 2022, Filed Under: NewsWelcome, Dr. Arredondo and Dr. Mahomed Kristen Arredondo, MD Faheem Mahomed, MD Our pediatric neurosciences team expanded this fall with the addition of two faculty members. Kristen Arredondo, MD, joins our Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Center as an assistant professor of neurology at Dell Medical School. Arredondo earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. After her preliminary training in pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital, Arredondo completed a pediatric neurology residency and a clinical neurophysiology fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Prior to joining our program, Arredondo was on the faculty of The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Arredondo is certified in neurology with special qualifications in child neurology as well as in clinical neurophysiology. She oversees the medical, dietary, and surgical treatment of epilepsy in children and has interests in medically refractory epilepsy patients, neurostimulation, and individuals with tuberous sclerosis complex. Arredondo’s research interests include thalamic EEG findings and practice trends in epilepsy presurgical evaluation and surgical management. Faheem Mahomed, MD, joined our pediatric rehab team in September. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine in 2016, Mahomed completed his physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. During his residency, he received the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s resident medical school teaching award. Most recently, Mahomed completed a two-year pediatric rehabilitation fellowship at the University of California Davis Health Center and Shriners Hospitals for Children. Mahomed is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. His academic interests include management of neuropathic pain in children and facilitation of adaptive sports participation. Welcome, Dr. Arredondo and Dr. Mahomed!
October 21, 2022, Filed Under: NewsSara Pavitt Honored With Resident Teaching Award Sara Pavitt, MD, Chief of Dell Children’s Pediatric Headache Center and an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology, was recently honored with the Dell Children’s 2022 Excellence in Teaching Award. Pavitt was nominated by the Dell Medical School pediatric and adult neurology residents for supporting trainees in attaining the knowledge and skills they need to become excellent clinicians. “Dr. Pavitt is keenly aware of the residents’ individual learning needs and provides one-on- one feedback while remaining receptive to suggestions,” said child neurology resident Emily Ramirez, DO, PGY-5. “She clearly prioritizes resident and student teaching, both on the wards and in the clinic.” Congratulations, Dr. Pavitt!
October 10, 2022, Filed Under: NewsThe Neurotransmitter, Issue 3 Check out our September issue of The Neurotransmitter to discover the latest news in the Pediatric Neurosciences Program. The-Neurotransmitter-UT-Health-Austin-Pediatric-Neurosciences-Newsletter-Issue-3-4Download
October 4, 2022, Filed Under: NewsChild Neurology Faculty Members Receive Clinical Learning Environment Awards Dave Clarke, MD Louisa Keith, MD Sara Pavitt, MD Congratulations to child neurologists Dave Clarke, MD, Louisa Keith, MD, and Sara Pavitt, MD, who were among the 2022 recipients of Dell Medical School’s Clinical Learning Environment Awards. These awards are based on student clerkship evaluations recognizing the creation of a positive learning environment and service as an effective role model for empathy and compassion. Former Dell Med pediatric neurology faculty member Collin Swafford, MD, was also a recipient of this award.From among the 500 teachers evaluated by clerkship students last year, 22 received this award based on perfect or near-perfect evaluation scores. Child neurologists accounted for 18% of the awardees.Clarke, Keith, and Pavitt were honored at the Dell Med Educational Innovation, Research & Awards Symposium on October 3, 2022.
October 1, 2022, Filed Under: NewsChild Neurology Resident Develops Automated Lesion Analysis Algorithm Khushboo Verma, MBBS For many years, the study of focal brain lesions has played an important role in our effort to localize specific neurological functions to precise anatomic brain regions. Because of the acute onset and distinct anatomical localization of ischemic brain infarction, functional correlation studies have relied heavily on individuals with stroke. Although manual lesion analysis is the gold standard for such analyses, this approach is labor intensive and subject to bias, and it tends to limit the sample size. Working with Dell Medical School Department of Neurology Chair David Paydarfar, MD, and Satwant Kumar, MBBS, PhD, of The University of Texas Center for Perceptual Systems, pediatric neurology resident Khushboo Verma, MBBS, developed an automated image algorithm to facilitate the characterization of chronic ischemic strokes on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images. Verma used 655 manually defined T1- weighted stroke images from the open-source dataset ATLAS (Anatomical Tracings of Lesions After Stroke) to refine the algorithm. She demonstrated a robust similarity coefficient between the manual and the automated volume calculations. This automated segmentation model, trained on a large multicentric dataset, may enable accurate automated on-demand processing of MRI scans and quantitative chronic stroke lesion assessment.
September 30, 2022, Filed Under: NewsNew Child Neurology Journal to Be Based in Austin Annals of the Child Neurology Society UT Health Austin Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children’s will be home to the Child Neurology Society’s new peer-reviewed medical journal, Annals of the Child Neurology Society. The society created ACNS as a clinically focused companion journal to its highly regarded official journal, Annals of Neurology. ACNS will publish clinical and translational research articles, epidemiological studies, clinically relevant basic science articles, case series, case reports, quality improvement articles, and commentaries on medicine or societal factors that affect the care of children with neurological disease. The Dell Medical School pediatric neurology team will play key roles in the new journal’s operation. Neurology chief E. Steve Roach, MD, is the founding Editor-in-Chief of ACNS, and our medical editor, Christina Roth, is the journal’s managing editor. Roach, an experienced medical editor, concluded a nine-year stint as Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Neurology at the end of 2021, and prior to this he was an associate editor of JAMA Neurology for 14 years. Before joining the Pediatric Neurosciences Program, Roth spent 15 years in various editorial roles in health care, book publishing, and academic publishing. Additionally, our statistician, Yingchao Yuan, has been named Associate Editor for Statistics and Epidemiology, and child neurology faculty member Kristina Jülich, MD, has been appointed Associate Editor for Genetic Disorders. “We are excited to announce the founding of Annals of the Child Neurology Society as an official journal of the society,” said Child Neurology Society President Bruce Cohen, MD. “This is arguably the most important venture for the society in many years, and we have created an outstanding editorial team, starting with Editor-in-Chief E. Steve Roach of The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and Senior Associate Editor Phillip Pearl of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.” “This is arguably the most important venture for the society in many years, and we have created an outstanding editorial team, starting with Editor-in-Chief E. Steve Roach of The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and Senior Associate Editor Phillip Pearl of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.”— Bruce Cohen, MD, Child Neurology Society President Ohio child neurologist Anup Patel, MD, President of the Child Neurology Foundation, agreed. “Annals of the Child Neurology Society is a major accomplishment for the Child Neurology Society. ACNS provides society members with a new venue for clinical research and observations, and we are fortunate to have such a strong editorial team to launch the journal.” ACNS is owned by the Child Neurology Society but published via a contract with Wiley, much like the arrangement for Annals of Neurology between the American Neurological Association and Wiley. ACNS and the ANA’s Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology will form an “Annals family” of journals. Inquiries about ACNS should be directed to E. Steve Roach or Christina Roth. Please visit the ACNS website and follow the journal’s Twitter account at @AnnalsCNS.
September 7, 2022, Filed Under: NewsMoodley Honored as Keynote Speaker at Reunion in South Africa Manikum Moodley, MD, FRCP Manikum Moodley, MD, FRCP, Chief of the Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center and Co-Director of the Pediatric Autonomic Lab, was the keynote speaker at the 2022 Legacy Reunion in his childhood town of Mandeni, South Africa. The multigenerational event was organized to celebrate the history of Mandeni Primary School and its community. Moodley spoke of the role the school’s educators played in his ultimate path to pursuing medicine, thanking the parents and community for their commitment to ensuring Mandeni’s children received a good education rooted in moral values. He further acknowledged that true education — despite the challenges recent technological advances can present to our moral and social values — must be used to enrich society and serve others.
September 1, 2022, Filed Under: carousel, NewsPavitt Participates in American Academy of Neurology Leadership Forum Sara Pavitt, MD, Chief of the Dell Children’s Pediatric Headache Center, was selected as one of 30 American Academy of Neurology members to participate in the 2022 Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum. The annual forum, named in honor of AAN Board of Directors member Donald M. Palatucci, MD, trains neurologists to become advocacy leaders in their institutions and communities by building skills in action planning, media relations, and grassroots advocacy. “This transformative weekend taught me how to find my voice and use it to advocate for my patients and my profession,” said Pavitt. “It was a springboard to forming connections with state organizations and working on legislation to make change that will improve my patients’ lives.” “This transformative weekend taught me how to find my voice and use it to advocate for my patients and my profession.” Sara Pavitt, MD
