A conversation between three UCSF-linked child neurologists (Drs. Brumback, Foster-Barber, and Hutchison) following presentation of the 2018 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award at the CNS Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Audrey Foster-Barber, MD, PhD
Dr. Audrey Foster-Barber is the recipient of the 2018 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award presented at the Chid Neurology Society Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Dr. Foster-Barber completed an undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard and subsequently earned a medical degree and doctorate in biochemistry with an emphasis on neuroscience at University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and completed the Medical Scientist Training Program and a postdoctoral fellowship in neurology. She also completed a residency in pediatrics and child neurology at UCSF and participated in the UCSF Teaching Scholars Program.
In addition to the Gold Humanism in Medicine Award, Dr. Foster-Barber is the recipient of numerous other awards, including the UCSF Medical Center Exceptional Physician Award, pediatrics’ department Fellow Teaching Award and Bank of America A. P. Giannini Medical Research Fellowship.
Audrey Brumback, MD, PhD
Dr. Audrey Brumback is currently a neuroscientist and pediatric neurologist at the University of Texas Dell Medical School. She grew up in Norman, Oklahoma with her parents Roger and Mary and brothers Darryl and Owen. Her first hands-on research experience was through the Sir Alexander Fleming Scholars summer internship program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City under the mentorship of Drs. Michael Dresser and John Harley. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry through the Dean’s Scholars program at the University of Texas at Austin in 1999 under the guidance of Dr. Alan Cline. It was her senior research project with Dr. George Pollak that turned her on to the beauty and power of neurophysiology. She completed her MD and PhD at the University of Colorado Medical Scientist Training Program under the mentorship of Dr. Kevin Staley, where she studied the basic science mechanisms underlying the depolarizing effect of GABA in the neonatal brain. She finished residency at UCSF in 2013 through the Neuroscience Pathway in Child Neurology. During her last year of residency and continuing since then, she has spent the majority of her time in the laboratory of Dr. Vikaas Sohal in the Center for Integrative Neuroscience examining the cellular and circuit mechanisms of autism spectrum disorder.
In addition to her research, Dr. Brumback treats patients in the Sensory, Neurodevelopment & Autism Program and general child neurology clinic at the UCSF Pediatric Brain Center, and is the child neurologist for “Katie’s Clinic” for Rett Syndrome and Related Disorders at UCSF. As she transitions to being an independent investigator, she will focus her energy on studying the mechanisms of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders at the level of cells, circuits, and behavior. Dr. Brumback received the Child Neurology Foundation PERF Research Grant in 2015 and the CNS Philip R. Dodge Young Investigator Award in 2017.
H. Terry Hutchison, MD, PhD
H. Terry Hutchison, MD, PhD (“Hutch” as he is affectionately known by colleagues, trainees and patients) began his Child Neurology career at the University of Texas Medical Branch, then practiced at Valley Children’s subspecialty medical group in Fresno, CA before joining the faculty at UCSF for several years, first as associate and then full professor. He “retired” from UCSF in 2011, to become the principal Child Neurologist at UCSF-Fresno, where he has been the interim Chair of Neurology since 2016.
In addition to teaching and administrative duties, outpatient clinic, and inpatient neurology care, Dr. Hutchison attends on the Pediatric Rehabilitation Service 42 weeks per year. He also attends on the Neuro-Intensive Care Nursery at UCSF (in San Francisco), and in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UCSF Fresno.
Dr. Hutchison is passionate about helping people with neurological conditions in the U.S. and abroad. Since 1985, He has been the Child Neurologist for Proyecto Nino, an annual weeklong Pediatrics clinic in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. He is fluent in Spanish, and every year, he serves about 120 Pediatric Neurology patients during the week at no charge. In recognition of this work, he was recently named a Paul Harris Fellow by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. This award was given “in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among the people of the world.” Dr. Hutchison is the 2019 recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award to be presented at the CNS Annual Meeting in Charlotte, NC in October.