Neurological disorders in children are wide-ranging with various causes, complications and outcomes and often require life-long management. The St. Jude Pediatric Translational Neuroscience Initiative leverages the scientific strength and expertise in experimental therapeutics to alter the landscape of pediatric neurological diseases.
To schedule an interview with one of our experts, email media@stjude.org.
Neurological Diseases Experts
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Richard S. Finkel, MD
Finkel
Richard Finkel, MD, St. Jude Department of Pediatric Medicine, is an expert in hereditary neuromuscular disorders such as spinal muscular atrophy and ataxia telangiectasia. He leads the Center for Experimental Neurotherapeutics, which facilitates clinical translation of promising candidate treatments for pediatric neurological diseases.
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Andrea Gropman, MD
Gropman
Andrea Gropman, MD, St. Jude Department of Pediatric Medicine, studies metabolic disorders that impair brain development. She leads the Neurometabolic Translational Research Center, which seeks to better understand and diagnose neurometabolic diseases.
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Peter J. McKinnon, PhD
McKinnon
Peter McKinnon, PhD, studies the role of the DNA damage response in the nervous system and how its disruption can lead to disease. He leads the Center for Pediatric Neurological Disease Research, which identifies mutations which cause rare neurological diseases and designs therapies to combat them.
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Heather C. Mefford, MD, PhD
Mefford
Heather Mefford, MD, PhD, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, works to identify and characterize the genetic causes of severe pediatric epilepsies and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Mefford’s laboratory applies genome-wide technologies to identify disease-associated genetic, genomic and epigenetic variants, followed by clinical and molecular characterization of novel genetic disorders.
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J. Paul Taylor, MD, PhD
Taylor
Executive Vice President J. Paul Taylor, MD, PhD, St. Jude Scientific Director and Pediatric Translational Neuroscience Initiative director, studies the molecular interactions involved in biomolecular condensates and how the processes that govern phase separation can lead to neurologic disease when disrupted.
