Kenneth F. Swaiman, MD
Dr. Kenneth F. Swaiman is an internationally known child neurologist and Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School where he was the director of the Division of Child Neurology for several decades. He also served as Interim Head of the Department of Neurology. During his tenure, he was involved training nearly 100 pediatric neurologists from the United States and Canada, as well as many other countries.
Dr. Swaiman was the Chairman of the organizing committee and first President of the Child Neurology Society (CNS). He received the Hower award, the highest award of that society, and the Founder’s Award at its 25th Anniversary meeting in 1981, as well as The Lifetime Achievement Award for Neurologic Education by the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Swaiman chaired organizing committee of the Professors of Child Neurology and served as its first President. He was also founded and served as first President of the Child Neurology Foundation. He was a member of the organizing committee of the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA), has served on many National Institutes of Health Study Sections, and has been visiting professor and lecturer at medical schools in the United States and throughout the world, including Canada, South America, Asia, Mexico, Europe, and Africa.
Dr. Swaiman has been the editor and a primary contributor to the textbook titled Practice of Pediatric Neurology (two editions) and Pediatric Neurology: Principles and Practice (five editions). He is the founding editor and immediate past Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Neurology, an international journal devoted to the basic and clinical aspects of the diagnosis of children with neurologic impairment. He has served as a member of the Editorial Boards of the Annals of Neurology, Brain and Development, Neuropediatrics, and the Chinese Journal of Pediatrics.
Dr. Swaiman’s investigative endeavors have included research into brain energy metabolism, the effect of malnutrition on the developing brain, and the metabolic effects of iron and other metals on brain function. He has been particularly involved in studies of Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA) and other childhood movement disorders.
(Profile redacted from Child Neurology Foundation website: www.childneurologyfoundation.org)
Stephen Ashwal, MD
Dr. Stephen Ashwal has been a member of the Division of Child Neurology in the Department of Pediatrics at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital since 1976 and currently serves as Chief of the Division. He received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine in 1970, did his pediatric training at Bellevue Hospital in New York and completed his training in child neurology at the University of Minnesota. He is board certified in pediatrics and in adult neurology and psychiatry with special competence in child neurology.
Dr. Ashwal has been an active member of the Child Neurology Society since 1975. He was elected by the CNS members to serve on the CNS Board of Directors as both Secretary-Treasurer (1993-97) and President (2001-2003). Dr. Ashwal received the Society’s highest honor, The Hower Award, in 2008 at the CNS Annual Meeting in Santa Clara, CA. A longtime member of the AAN QSS committee, Dr. Ashwal has been a prime moving force behind the development, with CNS endorsement, of several pediatric neurology practice parameters. He most recently served on the Board of Directors of the Child Neurology Foundation. He is also serves as a director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Dr. Ashwal has written or edited several books in the field of child neurology, including Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology: Principles and Practice. He is a longtime leading figure in research related to areas of acute brain injury in children and serves as co-director of the Pain Assessment Clinic at Loma Linda University Medical Center.