In this CME Outfitters live-streamed symposium, expert faculty discuss pediatric patient cases that illustrate the timely assessment of telltale signs and symptoms indicative of an underlying immunologic deficiency.
Kenneth Paris, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, where he is also Program Director of the Allergy/Immunology Fellowship Training Program and Division Chief of the Division of Allergy/Immunology. He is also Co-Director of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiency at LSU Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Paris received his medical degree from LSU School of Medicine and his Master of Public Health degree in Applied Health Sciences from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. He later completed a residency in Pediatrics at Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, and a fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at LSU Health Sciences Center. Dr. Paris is board certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
A member of the Clinical Immunology Society and the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy & Immunology, Dr. Paris is the author of book chapters, abstracts, and published articles in such refereed journals as the Annual Review of Immunology, Clinical Immunology, and Nature Immunology.
Kristin Epland is a 1998 graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner master’s program. She has worked with children and adults with immunodeficiency since 1992 through home infusion nursing, Midwest Immunology Clinic, and currently with Infectious Disease Associates in Minneapolis. Her present responsibilities include both inpatient and outpatient care of children and adults with primary immune deficiency and infectious diseases as well as the supervision of nursing and medical services provided through the infusion centers and home infusion. She is a part of the National Nurses Advisory Board of the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF).
Kris lives in Maple Grove, Minnesota. In her spare time, she loves traveling, fishing, hockey, and training her two stubborn dogs.
Dr. Hey Chong is the Division Director of Allergy and Immunology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh as well as the Medical Director of the Inborn Errors of Immunity Clinic, which she established in 2013. She is also the Director of the Immune Dysregulation Diagnosis and Treatment Center.
She received her MD and PhD from the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia, followed by her pediatric residency at the University of Chicago. She completed her fellowship in allergy and immunology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
She then joined the Allergy and Immunology Faculty at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she is currently an Associate Professor.
Join expert faculty in this live CMEO webcast as they discuss topics including early diagnosis, patient/caregiver QoL, team-based care, the role of pharmaceutical cannabinoid (CBD) in treatment, and regulatory guidelines.
Dr. Samba Reddy is a Regents Professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics and the Director of Texas A&M Institute of Pharmacology and Neurotherapeutics at Texas A&M University School of Medicine. He is a board-certified pharmacist and pharmacologist who is dedicated to developing new treatments for epilepsy and brain disorders. He has received continuous funding from the NIH for 18 years and is the principal lead on several projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Department of Defense (DOD), and other organizations, in fields such as epilepsy, chemical neurotoxicity and brain injury. Dr. Reddy has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of neurotherapeutics, including the discovery of the “neurosteroid replacement therapy” for epilepsy and women’s health. His research has paved the way for the FDA approval of two new neurosteroid medicines for post-partum depression (brexanolone) and refractory epilepsy (ganaxolone). He has published over 225 papers, five popular textbooks, and has mentored over 100 students and postdocs. He is a sought-after expert in his field and has been honored with numerous awards and recognition from prestigious organizations, including being named one of the world’s top 2% of scientists by Stanford University.
Dr. Elaine Wirrell is the Chair and Professor of Child Neurology and Program Director of Child and Adolescent Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She completed medical school at the University of British Columbia and her Pediatric Neurology training at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Dr. Wirrell is the past Co-chair of the Nosology and Status Epilepticus Task Force and a member of the Pediatrics Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy. She serves as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Epilepsy.com and is on the Medical Advisory Board for the Dravet Syndrome Foundation and the Lennox-Gastaut Foundation.
Dr. Wirrell?s main research interests are in early onset, medically intractable epilepsies including developmental and epileptic encephalopathies and epidemiology and comorbidities of pediatric epilepsy. Additionally, Dr. Wirrell is the recipient of the 2021 Kiffin-Penry Award from the American Epilepsy Society and the 2016 Distinguished Clinician award from Mayo Clinic.
During this 60-minute symposium live, expert panelists will discuss GD, including its less commonly reported manifestations, diagnostic pathways, and patient-centric multidisciplinary management of the disorder.
Neal J. Weinreb, MD, FACP is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary (Bachelor of Hebrew Literature), and SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University (MD, summa cum laude). After a residency in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a fellowship and faculty position at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, NY, he practiced Hematology and Medical Oncology in South Florida. Dr. Weinreb, the director of the University Research Foundation for Lysosomal Storage Diseases in Boca Raton, FL, retired from clinical practice in May 2018. He now devotes his entire professional attention to clinical research about Gaucher Disease and Fabry Disease. Dr Weinreb is a Voluntary Associate Professor of Human Genetics and Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Weinreb is an investigator for the Gaucher and Fabry Registries and a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the National Gaucher Foundation and of the International Working Group for Gaucher Disease.
Dimitri Krainc, MD, PhD, currently serves as the Ward Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Director of the Simpson Querrey Center for Neurogenetics at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Previously, he spent over two decades at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he completed his research and clinical training and served on the neurology faculty. His group discovered how to improve degradation of aggregation-prone proteins such as mutant huntingtin and a-synuclein by the lysosomal pathway. They identified a positive feedback loop between alpha-synuclein and lysosomal glucocerebrosidase in synucleinopathies. Using patient-specific neurons, his lab discovered a link between mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction in neurodegeneration of human but not mouse midbrain neurons. Based on these findings, Dr. Krainc’s group initiated the development of activators of lysosomal glucocerebrosidase as targeted therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease. Their recent discovery of direct contacts between mitochondria and lysosomes and organelle dynamics has implications for various neurological and other disorders. He received numerous awards for his work and is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Coy Heldermon is an associate professor of medicine and board-certified medical oncologist at the University of Florida with expertise in the treatment of breast cancer. He is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His research expertise is in the use of gene replacement and stem cell therapies for the treatment of inherited disorders such as lysosomal storage diseases.
Dr. Roshan Lal is a Pediatric Clinical and Metabolic Geneticist working at the Rare Disease Institute, Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC. Her clinical and research interests are geared towards improving the quality of life for children with rare genetic diseases, specifically lysosomal storage diseases and neuro-genetic disorders. Her special interest includes being involved in clinical trials using orphan drugs as well as gene therapy. She is currently the Director of Clinical Trials and Director of International Patient Consultations and Care Referrals for the Rare Disease Institute at the Children’s Hospital.