PFS2022

Keynote Speakers

Shivaram Avula

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

Shivaram Avula graduated from The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, India in 1995. He obtained his postgraduate Paediatric degree (London) in 2001 and Radiology degree (London) in 2005. He completed his paediatric radiology and neuroradiology fellowships at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool and Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. He was appointed as a Consultant Radiologist at Alder Hey in 2009. He is the lead radiologist for the Neuro-oncology team at Alder Hey. Shivaram has been the lead radiologist in developing the intraoperative MRI service for brain tumour surgery and has published and presented extensively in this area. Shivaram has been the Chair of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology–Europe (SIOP-E BTG) Brain Tumour Imaging group (201-19). He is a radiology lead for the upcoming international multi centre trial for children with lowgrade glioma study LOGGIC-Firefly II. He is a central reviewer for the SIOPE ependymoma, high risk medulloblastoma and PNET V studies. He is one of the board members on the Posterior fossa society. He is an honorary clinical associate professor at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool. His work on postoperative paediatric cerebellar mutism syndrome includes analysis of preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative imaging related to this disorder. His collaborative work with the University of Surrey on mathematical analysis in cerebellar mutism has been incorporated into the largest European cerebellar mutism study. He has published multiple scientific papers in this area, including new hypothesis on its pathophysiology.

Robert Keating

Children's National Hospital

Robert Keating, MD is Professor and Chief of Neurosurgery at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Dr. Keating graduated from Georgetown University Medical School in 1983 and subsequently went to New York where he did his training in Neurosurgery at the Albert Einstein and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. A fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery as well as Craniofacial Surgery followed at Einstein / Montefiore in 1990. As a member of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery and International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery, he has published and presented extensively in the field. His publications include the previous texts, “An Atlas of Orbitocranial Surgery” and “Tumors of the Pediatric Nervous System” (2nd edition published in 2013 ) with current work on Neurosurgical Operative Atlas, (2nd ed. Kobets, A, Goodrich JT, and Keating RF, Thieme) due for publication in 2022. He is a reviewer for numerous journals, including Pediatric Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Journal of Neuro-Oncology and is on the Editorial Board of Childs Nervous System. In addition, he is also Chair, Medical Advisory Committee on the Board of the American Syringomyelia Alliance Project as well as a founding member of the Posterior Fossa Society and maintains long-standing membership in the CNS , AANS , ASPN and ISPN. His major clinical areas of interest include brain and spinal cord tumors, Craniofacial disorders, Chiari malformations, Spinal Dysraphism and Integrative Neurosurgical Technology.

Donald Mabbott

Sick Kids Research Institute

Dr. Mabbott received his PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Alberta in 1998 and then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in paediatric neuropsychology at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).

Dr. Mabbott is Head of Neurosciences and Mental Health Program and Senior Scientist within the Research Institute at SickKids and a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. Situated at the intersection between clinical neuroscience, developmental neuropsychology, and regenerative medicine, Dr. Mabbott’s research program seeks to: (a) understand how perturbed brain development manifests as cognitive impairment in children – particularly in survivors of paediatric brain tumours, and (b) discover how neuroplasticity in the developing brain can be harnessed for neural recovery and cognitive restoration in children with acquired brain injury. His work has been instrumental in documenting the thinking and learning problems children and adolescents treated for brain tumours experience, and the underlying damage to brain structure and function that cause these problems.

He is now conducting exciting new work to find ways to foster brain repair and cognitive recovery following acquired brain injury in children, including harnessing neuroplasticity from physical exercise and employing drugs that stimulate the growth of new brain cells.

Sharyl Samargia-Grivette

University of Minnesota Duluth

Sharyl is a Speech-Language Pathologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She earned her B.A.S. and M.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She gained clinical experience in assessment and treatment of speech, language and cognitive deficits in children with a variety of neurologic conditions including Cerebellar Mutism Syndrome (CMS) at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota-St. Paul. Her research investigates neurological mechanisms associated with neuroplasticity of motor speech, language and cognition and novel interventions that harness non-invasive brain stimulation and behavioral intervention for optimal neural recovery.

Jeremy Schmahmann

Massachusetts General Hospital

Jeremy D. Schmahmann, M.D. is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and Senior Clinical Neurologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he is Founding Director of the Ataxia Center (1994), Director of the Laboratory for Neuroanatomy and Cerebellar Neurobiology, and a founding member of the Cognitive Behavioral Neurology Unit. Dr. Schmahmann received his medical degree with distinction at the University of Cape Town, winning the Nestle Prize (pediatrics) and Wilfrid Exner Bauman Prize (best student). Dr. Schmahmann completed residency in the Neurological Unit of the Boston City Hospital, and post-doctoral Fellowship in Anatomy and Neurobiology Fellowship with Professor Deepak Pandya at the Boston University School of Medicine. He joined the MGH faculty in 1989 and has been cited in The Best Doctors in America since 1996. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and the American Neuropsychiatric Association.

Dr. Schmahmann won the American Academy of Neurology’s Norman Geschwind Prize (2000) for pioneering work on the role of the cerebellum in cognition and emotion, and description of the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (now, Schmahmann’s syndrome). He received the American Neurological Association’s Distinguished Neurology Teacher Award (2008), Harvard Medical School’s Special Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching (2013), and visiting professorships throughout the USA and Europe. He is past president of the Boston Society of Neurology and Psychiatry and the American Neuropsychiatric Association, on the Executive of the Society for Research on the Cerebellum and Ataxias, the Medical and Scientific Research Advisory Board of the National Ataxia Foundation, and the Clinical Research Consortium for the Study of Cerebellar Ataxias. He was Founding Co-Director of the HMS Dementia Course (1995). Dr. Schmahmann is funded by the NIH and private foundations. He has > 270 publications in peer-reviewed journals and academic texts, and he has co-authored and edited 6 monographs – The Cerebellum and Cognition, MRI Atlas of the Human Cerebellum, Fiber Pathways of the Brain, Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders, Essentials of the Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders, and Cerebellar Disorders in Children.

Deborah Sival

Beatrix Children's Hospital

Dr. Deborah A Sival works as a pediatric neurologist at the Beatrix Children's Hospital University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). As a pediatric neurologist, she is involved in consultation hours for movement disorders in children.She studied medicine at the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam. In 1993 she obtained her doctorate at the University of Groningen with a thesis entitled "Studies on fetal motor behavior in complicated pregnacies"; supervisors Prof.dr. HFR Prechtl and Prof.dr. GHA Visser. After her specialization as a neurologist (UMCG; 1998), she completed a subspecialization as a pediatric neurologist (2000), in the same center. Her area of interest and focus are the diagnosis and treatment of ataxia, tics, dyskinetic cerebral palsy. She also conducts research into the early motor development of children with spina bifida. She supervises PhD research on recognizing and quantifying ataxia, dystonia and tics in young children.

Catherine Stoodley

American University

Dr. Catherine Stoodley is a Provost Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at American University, where she is the director of the undergraduate Neuroscience program. She completed her graduate training at the University of Oxford with Prof. John Stein and post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Jeremy Schmahmann at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Stoodley Lab investigates the role of the cerebellum in cognition and cognitive development, including neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, using a variety of experimental approaches, such as functional and structural neuroimaging, transcranial direct current stimulation, and lesion-symptom mapping in patient populations. The ultimate goal of this work is to improve therapeutic options for a range of developmental and clinical conditions affecting the cerebellum.

Karin Walsh

Children's National Hospital

Karin S. Walsh, Psy.D. is a pediatric neuropsychologist in the Division of Neuropsychology at Children’s National Hospital and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. She is the lead neuropsychologist to the Brain Tumor and Neurofibromatosis Institutes at Children’s National. She provides and supervises clinical neuropsychological evaluations and consultations to a variety of pediatric populations, including brain tumor, leukemia and other cancers, as well as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).

Dr. Walsh is an active and productive clinical researcher with a focus on the consequences of pediatric cancer on cognitive functioning, including pediatric post-operative cerebellar mutism syndrome, and cognitive and psychosocial impairments associated with NF1 and blood disorders such as hemophilia. She has particular expertise and interest in the effects of pediatric disorders and diseases on executive functions.

Dr. Walsh is also involved in intervention research, specifically targeting learning and executive function difficulties in children with chronic and acute medical conditions. Dr. Walsh holds multiple leadership positions within the fields of neuropsychology and neuroscience including her current positions as the President of the Posterior Fossa Society and Chair of the NF Clinical Trials Consortium (NFCTC) Neurocognitive Committee, as well as past positions as Secretary of the Posterior Fossa Society, chair of the Neurocognitive committee for the Response Evaluation in Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis (REiNS) working group and the NFCTC Quality of Life committee.

Dr. Walsh is an active participant in the education and mentorship of pre- and post-doctoral students and junior faculty in psychology, neuropsychology, and medicine.