Inside Pediatrics Spring 2018

POWELL NAMED CHAIR OF NEUROBIOLOGY

Craig Powell, M.D., Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine and director of the Civitan International Research Center. Powell is a national leader in research pertaining to molecular mechanisms of learning and memory, synaptic plasticity and neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, intellectual disability and Alzheimer’s disease. Powell comes to UAB from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, where he is the Ed and Sue Rose Distinguished Professor in Neurology, as well as director of Preclinical Research in Neurology and chief of Developmental Brain Disorders Section in Neurology. “With my laboratory’s longstanding focus on autism, intellectual disability and cognitive dysfunction in general, the additional opportunity to lead the UAB Civitan International Research Center is a great honor,” Powell said. “As a physician and a scientist, I am uniquely poised to leverage the existing clinical research strengths at UAB and Children’s of Alabama to move our neurobiology discoveries from the laboratory to help patients and their families.” Craig Powell, M.D., Ph.D., is the new chair of the Department of Neurobiology at the UAB School of Medicine. (Courtesy UAB News)

“When the initial study was complete, the pharmaceutical company offered a long-term extension so these patients could continue their treatment until the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] approves the medication,” Dure said. “We administer the drug to these children in outpatient surgery through a spinal tap. It’s not easy to find a facility willing to do this and manage these children, but we were happy to take this program on and help make this process a lot easier for them.” Will Brumbeloe of Boaz, Alabama, whose 6-year-old daughter Kamryn is part of the study, says, “Children’s makes it simple, fast and really easy. Everybody we have come across has been great – the nurses, the doctors, the entire team. It has been a huge relief for us. It has provided a center for everybody to come together for one goal. Children’s is not just a Birmingham hospital. It’s an outreach hospital to me personally.” For more information, visit childrensal.org/neurology . Children’s of Alabama occupational therapist Jan Rowe, Dr., OT, OTR/L, FAOTA, who heads the Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) program, leads Brock Senel of Instanbul, Turkey, in an exercise to control his Tourette syndrome without medication.

Occupational Therapist Jan Rowe, Dr. OT, OTR/L, FAOTA, discusses the Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) program on Children’s of Alabama’s Inside Pediatrics Podcast. To listen, visit childrensal.org/podcast , or listen via iTunes (search Children’s of Alabama under podcasts), iHeartRadio (search Children’s of Alabama), Stitcher or Google Play.

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