The CNF Scientific Award is two-year research grant for work in the field of child neurology. This award recognizes the work of a young researcher, who is a child neurologist early in his/her career. The selected investigator will receive a two-year grant of $50,000 per-year. The award is supported in part by the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation (PERF).
Keith Van Haren
Keith Van Haren MD graduated with a BA in Chemistry from the College of the Holy Cross, where he was recognized for his human rights work as well as his academic performance. He subsequently completed a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps before enrolling in medical school at the University of Rochester. During a one-year pre-doctoral fellowship at Rochester, he developed an interest in myelin-based disorders under the mentorship of neuropathologist Jim Powers MD and neurologist Marjo van der Knaap MD PhD, with whom he coauthored two scientific papers on vanishing white matter disease. Dr. Van Haren gave the student commencement address at his medical school graduation in 2005. Dr Van Haren completed his Pediatrics training at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University, where neurologist Florian Eichler MD continued to foster an interest in white matter disorders. Together, they co-authored a review on the variable role of inflammation in leukodystrophies. Dr. Van Haren then completed his Child Neurology residency at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital/Stanford University, where he served as Chief Resident in the Department of Neurology during his final year. With the support of an NIH R25 award during his residency, he began working in the labs of neuroimmunologist Larry Steinman MD and rheumatologist Bill Robinson MD PhD, and applied antigen microarrays and other microassays to the study of anti-myelin antibodies and inflammatory cytokines in X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (XALD). Since completing his residency in 2010, Dr Van Haren has joined the Stanford faculty as an Instructor and post-doctoral scholar.
Dr Van Haren is interested in congenital and inflammatory disorders of myelin. His current laboratory research is focused on the role of myelin lipids in inflammatory demyelination, with the long-term goal of defining the mechanism by which the abnormal lipid composition within XALD myelin leads to neuroinflammation. He is also developing a multidisciplinary White Matter Clinic at Stanford to address the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of caring for these children and their families. The Child Neurology Foundation Scientific Award will allow Dr Van Haren to screen a large number of myelin lipids for antigenic properties using plasma and CSF samples from XALD patients. Promising lipid candidates from this screen will be applied to cellular assays to measure their inflammatory potential. The results of this work will have important implications for our mechanistic understanding of how myelin lipids can lead to neuroinflammation in XALD as well other inflammatory demyelinating disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, where the predominant view has been that lipids are little more than bystanders in disease pathogenesis.
I am tremendously honored to receive the prestigious Child Neurology Foundation Scientific Award. This Award confers the resources and time necessary for me to make meaningful progress toward expanding our understanding of inflammatory demyelination in children, a critical step in developing successful therapies. I also want to offer my sincerest thanks to the Child Neurology Foundation for the Awards’ most important offering: hope to the children and families affected by these disorders.”
Dr. Chris Smyser:
Chris Smyser received his B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering with highest distinction from the University of Iowa. After graduating, he was employed as an engineer at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, collaborating with Drs. Tom Grabowski and Lizann Bolinger in the Departments of Neurology and Radiology. In this position, he designed and developed hardware and software tools allowing efficient processing of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data using complex statistical modeling. He later served as the lead investigator for a project utilizing fMRI to examine human brain activity in neural systems involved in generating psychophysiological responses. The systems created through these efforts enabled new forms of neuroimaging investigation, enhancing research efforts and leading to multiple publications and additional external funding.
Dr. Smyser subsequently entered medical school, receiving his M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2004. He completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and then completed his pediatric neurology residency at Washington University/St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 2009, serving as chief resident for the Division of Pediatric Neurology in his final year. He received the Leonard Berg Prize for research conducted during residency in 2009. Upon completion of his training, he became an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Washington University School of Medicine. His clinical efforts have focused upon development of a multidisciplinary Neonatal Neurology Clinical Service designed to improve neurological care for infants at risk for aberrant neurodevelopment.
Throughout his time at Washington University, Dr. Smyser has continued his research efforts as a member of the Washington University Neonatal Developmental Research (WUNDER) Laboratory under the mentorship of Drs. Jeff Neil and Terrie Inder. His initial activities focused upon development and optimization of the tools necessary to utilize functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to investigate development of functional cerebral connections in preterm and term infants. These methods were subsequently applied to the study of very preterm infants as part of an ongoing investigation examining cerebral abnormalities associated with neurodevelopmental impairment in prematurely born children. The result has been characterization of the longitudinal development of neural networks within this population, providing insight into the earliest forms of cerebral connectivity in the human brain. The proposed study seeks to expand these efforts to define the impact of white matter injury on emerging functional motor connections in the developing brain.
“The Child Neurology Foundation Scientific Award will allow me to continue efforts designed to establish fcMRI as an imaging biomarker that identifies infants at increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, allowing targeted intervention and reducing rates of disability in this population. The generous support provided through the Award will strengthen the foundation necessary to realize my goal of becoming a successful independent clinician-scientist investigating brain injury and ensuring optimal neurological outcomes in newborn infants via development and application of novel neuroimaging techniques. It is truly an honor and privilege to receive this esteemed Award.”
