Student Interest Group in Neurology (SIGN)

• Graduated medical school from Albany Medical College
• Completed residency at University of Virginia Health Systems
• Completed fellowship at University of Virginia Health Systems
• Research would involve working with Ahmed Awad, who is included in an IRB-approved study and will likely begin data collection within the next six months
• Research area: Epilepsy/seizure
• Clinical research projects available
• Open to mentoring: current neurology resident or fellow

From Dr. Mytinger:

Overview of Research:

I conduct clinical research in the area of pediatric epilepsy largely concentrated on the issue of infantile epileptic encephalopathy (West syndrome).  My research has included study designs such as retrospective case series and prospective observational studies.  These studies include an analysis of the clinically-based outcomes and EEG-based outcomes.  I have also completed formal training in Quality Improvement methodology and lead a prospective QI project on the topic of remission in West syndrome.  Thus, I can mentor a research within clinical, EEG, and QI related projects in in most areas of epilepsy.

Comments for Researchers:

As with any Mentor-Mentee relationship, research is driven forward by the mentee.  Although a mentor can discuss possible research questions, it is up to the mentee to develop that question.  This begins with a thorough review of the current literature on the topic of interest.  Mentees should be prepared to complete a literature review and prepare an institutional review board (IRB) submission.  Projects are typically complete over a 6-12 month period (shorter or longer depending of education/clinical responsibilities).

• Graduated medical school from Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center, Philippines
• Completed residency at West Virginia University Medical Center and University Hospital
• Completed fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Director of Nationwide Children’s Batten Disease Center of Excellence
• Current research includes case reports for rare disorders, Batten’s EEG (for epilepsy fellows), and projects for those seeking experience in gene therapy
• Research area: Developmental, Neurogenetics, Neurodegenerative
• Clinical research projects available
• Open to mentoring: current neurology resident or fellow, current neurology pre-lim, medical students

From Dr. de los Reyes:

Emily C. de los Reyes, MD is a clinical professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at The Ohio State University College of medicine. She is a pediatric neurologist at Nationwide Children’s hospital and director for Batten’s disease center of excellence and the Neurodevelopmental clinic. She is the primary investigator for the Batten’s disease research programs, which includes the enzyme replacement therapy and cognitive evaluations for CLN2 disease, CLN3, and CLN6 gene therapy programs, and Batten’s disease natural history program. She completed her pediatric residency training at West Virginia University and completed her neurology residency at University of Cincinnati children’s hospital medical Center in 1991. She serves as director of the Nationwide Children hospital, Batten disease center of excellence, and is lead specialist of the Pediatric Neurology Neurodevelopmental Clinic. She is also the lead autism specialist and the neurology subspecialty chair of the Autism Treatment Network at Nationwide Children’s.

Dr. de los Reyes’ research focuses on the development of therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS), particularly Batten’s disease. Other research interests include autism, La Crosse encephalitis and other rare mitochondrial and genetic disorders.

Specific projects with Dr. de los Reyes include:

1. Case reports
2. Neuroimaging of La Crosse encephalitis

• Graduated medical school from the University of Virginia School of Medicine
• Completed residency at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
• Completed fellowship at the Sports Neurology Clinic at the CORE Institute
• Co-director of the Complex Concussion Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
• Current research is focused on post-traumatic headache, including a retrospective chart review of patients seen in Neurology clinic with either concussion of migraine, and examining the effectiveness of headache prophylactic medications
• Research area: Headache
• Clinical research projects available
• Open to mentoring: current neurology resident or fellow, current neurology pre-lim

From Dr. Rose: “My name is Sean Rose, and I’m a pediatric neurologist at NCH.  I completed a Sports Neurology fellowship, so much of my focus is on concussion.  I conduct clinical research in children with acute concussion and children with prolonged symptoms after concussion.”

Specific projects include:

1. Randomized controlled clinical trial of a form of counseling for the treatment of children with prolonged symptoms after concussion.  This project also involves cognitive testing, advanced MRI, and actigraphs.
2. Assessment of cognitive function, sleep difficulties, and brain waves in adolescents with prolonged symptoms after concussion. This project involves cognitive testing, sleep diaries, and an EEG while napping.
3. Natural course of mild traumatic brain injury in young children (under 6 years old). This project involves enrolling children from the ER with concussion and conducting questionnaires and cognitive testing at several time points over the next year, as well as saliva sample and hair sample for various tests.
4. Comparison of post-traumatic headache and migraines. This is a retrospective chart review of children with concussion and children with migraines, tracking their headaches over time.

Pre-requisite experience you require of prospective trainee who may join your research project: Experience with Excel and Word manipulation.  Familiarity or ability to quickly learn how to obtain information from an electronic medical record.

Projects are rolling. We would try to match a trainee with a project currently ongoing.

• Graduate medical school from Northwestern University
• Completed residency in Child Neurology at University of California Medical Center Parnassus
• Completed fellowship at the University of Michigan
• Director of the Stroke and Vascular Anomalies Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
• Clinical research projects available
• Current research involves a multi-site clinical trial on high intensity rehabilitation in perinatal stroke, and two observational studies on stroke
• Research area: Neuro rehabilitation, stroke
• Clinical research projects available
• Open to mentoring: current neurology resident or fellow
• Contact: warren.lo@nationwidechildrens.org

From Dr. Lo: “I am one of the pediatric neurologists. I do clinical research. I mostly recruit patients for clinical studies of stroke, Sturge-Weber syndrome, or infant rehabilitation following stroke. I don’t have my own research lab. Rather I collaborate with others who have their own research team, and they will have their own coordinator or treating therapist or assessor. Since stroke in children is uncommon, our recruitment rate is fairly slow, perhaps one child every two months or so. As such anyone involved with my projects likely has to be involved for at least a year or more. There are opportunities to write a paper over the year’s time, but since I collaborate with a number of individuals, they do have to provide input regarding the writing of any paper. So the process is slow. The level of trainee who will find this type of work informative is likely a senior resident or a fellow.”

• Graduated medical school from Mexico’s National University
• Completed residency in Child Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.
• His pursuit of knowledge in bioethics was consolidated by the life-story of two patients
• Has been Co-Chair of Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s ethics committee for the past 10 years
• Has written 30 peer-reviewed-articles and book chapters related to bioethics
• Current research is focused on the eugenics movement and the atrocities that Nazi doctors committed on concentration and extermination camp victims
• Research area: Bioethics
• Clinical research projects available
• Open to mentoring: current neurology resident or fellow, current neurology pre-lim