Division Spotlight: Pediatric Neurology
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Last fall, Paul R. Carney, MD joined the Department of Neurology as the new Chief of Pediatric Neurology, a role well-served by Dr. Robert S. Greenwood for over 33 years. Dr. Carney came to UNC from the University of Florida in Gainesville where he held a variety of positions including the B.J. and Eve Wilder Chair Endowed Professor for Epilepsy, and Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Carney was fortunate to join a strong, existing Pediatric Neurology team comprised of:
Mission and Goals The primary mission of UNC’s Division of Pediatric Neurology is to care for, and find cures and innovative treatments for pediatric neurological diseases. To fulfill this mission, four overall goals have been set for the Division. (Read More) |
Meet our new faculty
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Gary W. Jay, MD, FAAPM, FACFEI joined UNC Neurology in late December to lead the new Division of Headache. Dr. Jay received his medical degree from Northwestern University where he also completed his residency in neurology. For the first 25 years of his career, Dr. Jay served as a private practitioner, running a tertiary-care, interdisciplinary pain center. He also worked as a part-time consultant to pharmaceutical companies before going full-time in 2005. |
| Thomas B. DeMarse, PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology has joined Dr. Paul Richard Carney’s lab as a Research Assistant Professor of Neurology. Dr. DeMarse is investigating novel ways to control seizures as well as researching pre-clinical models using advanced neurotechnology. |
Recognition
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| The UNC Stroke Center has successfully achieved recertification for Disease Specific Care Comprehensive Stroke Certification (CSC) by The Joint Commission. This level of certification recognizes the significant resources in staff and training that comprehensive stroke centers must have to treat complex stroke. |
| Physicians Daniel A. Roque, Richard W. Murrow, James F. Howard, Nina Browner, Octavio J. DeMarchena, and nurse practitioner Nansi M. Greger-Holt have received the 2017 UNC Health Care and UNC Faculty Physicians Award for Carolina Care Excellence. |
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Paul Richard Carney, MD, Chief of Pediatric Neurology, was invited by the National Institutes of Health to serve as a member of the Acute Neural Injury and Epilepsy Study Section, Center for Scientific Review for the term beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2021. |
Research & Publications
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| Researchers at UNC and the University of Minnesota have been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to learn more about how the human brain develops from birth through early childhood. Weili Lin, PhD, is contact principal investigator of the study known as the “Baby Connectome” project. |
| Hae Won Shin, MD (co-investigator) and Flavio Frohlich, PhD (PI) received a grant for “Oscillations and Working Memory in Patients with Subdural Electrodes.” The grant is effective through November 30, 2018 and offers 10% salary/benefit support. |
| Dan Kaufer, MD is the site PI for NIH-funded “Dementia with Lewy Bodies” Consortium. The goal of this project is to provide longitudinal cognitive, motor and behavioral evaluations as suggested by the Dementia with Lewy Body (DLB) module used for the National Institute on Aging Alzheimer’s Disease and collect biomarker data to be used in collaboration with the Parkinson’s Disease Biomarker Program based at NINDS.
Dr. Kaufer also initiated the first expanded access treatment protocol for a patient with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) using an investigational immunotherapeutic agent targeting tau protein, a common thread between Alzheimer’s disease, FTD, and CTE. In addition, Dr. Kaufer began serving on the Scientific Advisory Board of the FTD Registry, a new initiative sponsored by the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration to promote research in FTD-spectrum disorders. |
| Gary Jay, MD, FAAPM, FACFEI published in Practical Pain Management: “Updates in Management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome” as well as in Pain Week Journal – 2017 Q3: “Clinical Conundrum: Catch 22.”
Dr. Jay also became the editor in chief of a new journal: Neurological Disorders and Therapeutics. |
| Yael Shiloh-Malawsky, MD and Robert Greenwood, MD are investigators in CBD (cannabinol) trials studying the treatment of Dravet syndrome epilepsy, infantile spasms and seizures in children with tuberous sclerosis. |
| Robert Greenwood, MD served as a reviewer for the CDMRP 2016 Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program, Clinical Trial – Neurologic Disorders. |
| Neurology resident Jason Richards, MD was awarded first place for his poster, “Seronegative Myasthenia Gravis Associated with Malignant Thymoma,” at the Annual North Carolina Neurological Society meeting held in Pinehurst last February. |
Presentations
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| Albert Hinn, MD was the Plenary Speaker at the Clinical Ethics Network of North Carolina in February where he spoke on “Conundrums of Consciousness and Unconsciousness.” |
| Robert Greenwood, MD gave an invited lecture on “Hot Topics in Pediatric Epilepsy” at the 20th Annual Pediatric Epilepsy Symposium in March. |
| Since January, Gary Jay, MD, FAAPM, FACFEI has given three talks on migraines and three talks on central pain syndromes (pathophysiology and treatment) in Scottsdale, AZ, Indianapolis, IN, and Jacksonville, FL as part of Pain Weekend. |
| Dan Kaufer, MD was the director and speaker for symposium “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Clinical and Neuropsychiatric Perspectives” at the annual meeting of the American Neuropsychiatric Association in Atlanta, GA in March. |
| Rhonda Cadena, MD presented a lecture on neurologic critical care to more than 100 Womack Army Medical Center service members in February. |
Media & Community Outreach
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| Dan Kaufer, MD, as co-director of the NC Memory and Brain Aging Research Consortium and member of the NC Alzheimer’s Disease Task Force, published summary recommendations for improving memory disorder care, education, and research in North Carolina. Dr. Kaufer and colleagues at Duke University and NC A&T are scheduled to meet with members of the General Assembly to discuss one of the recommendations, creating a statewide patient registry for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
Dr. Kaufer was also interviewed in two News & Observer articles: In addition, Dr. Kaufer gave a public presentation on “This Is Your Brain” presented by UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health Care as part of Brain Health Awareness Week in March. |
Winners!
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 Congratulations to our Neurology residents who were members of the Neuroscience Trivia Team “The Powers That Be.” Our knowledgeable UNC team won the first prize at Neuroscience Trivia Night hosted by Triangle Chapter of Society for Neuroscience. Trivia Night was part of the Brain Awareness Week which unites the efforts of partner organizations worldwide in a celebration of the brain for people of all ages. |