How does it all shake out? Overlaps of Epilepsy and Movement Disorders

Elizabeth Thiele, MD, PhD

Elizabeth Thiele, MD PhD is the director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Program and the Center for Dietary Therapy in Epilepsy at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She has established a program to clinically and genetically characterize Sunflower Syndrome, and has conducted a clinical trial of fenfluramine to treat hand-waving episodes. Recent related publications include:

Barnett JR, Fleming BM, Geenen KR, Sourbron J, Freedman JH, Bruno PL, Thiele EA. Characterizing Sunflower syndrome: a clinical series. Epileptic Disord. 2020
Jun 1;22(3):273-280.
Geenen KR, Patel S, Thiele EA. Sunflower syndrome: a poorly understood photosensitive epilepsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2020 Oct 31:[Epub ahead of print].
Sourbron J, Ayub N, Luo Y, Thiele EA. Ictal EEG in sunflower syndrome: Provoked or unprovoked seizures?. Epilepsy Behav. 2020 Dec;113:107470

• Barnett JR, Fleming BM, Geenen KR, Sourbron J, Freedman JH, Bruno PL, Thiele EA. Characterizing Sunflower syndrome: a clinical series. Epileptic Disord. 2020 Jun 1;22(3):273-280.
• Geenen KR, Patel S, Thiele EA. Sunflower syndrome: a poorly understood photosensitive epilepsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2020 Oct 31:[Epub ahead of print].
• Sourbron J, Ayub N, Luo Y, Thiele EA. Ictal EEG in sunflower syndrome: Provoked or unprovoked seizures?. Epilepsy Behav. 2020 Dec;113:107470

Kristina Julich, MD

Kristina Julich, MD is an Assistant Professor at Dell Medical School/UT Health Austin. She is board-certified in Child Neurology in the US, board-certified in Pediatrics and
Clinical Neurophysiology in Germany, and is a member of CNS and AES. She trained in Child Neurology and Neurogenetics at Boston Children’s Hospital and currently directs the comprehensive Neurogenetics program at UT Austin, where she specializes in evaluation, counseling and treatment of children with genetic epilepsies, brain malformations and neurocutaneous disorders. She is focused on quality improvement, disparities in care and access to genetic workup and counseling for individuals with genetic epilepsies and is seeking to include mathematical models into medical decision-making processes. She is also a core provider in the TSC clinic and the comprehensive ketogenic diet program.

Bhooma Aravamuthan, MD, DPhil

Bhooma Aravamuthan, MD, DPhil is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. She completed her child neurology training at Boston Children’s Hospital and her movement disorders fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Her clinical and research
expertise is in diagnosing and understanding the pathophysiology of dystonia following neonatal brain injury. As a pediatric movement disorders attending, she has significant expertise in the treatment of mixed movement disorder epilepsy syndromes.

Fiona Baumer, MD

Fiona Baumer, MD is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed her child neurology training at Boston Children’s Hospital and her epilepsy fellowship at Stanford School of Medicine, where she is an attending physician and conducts research on the impact of interictal epileptiform discharges on
cognition. She is interested in the interaction between epilepsy and movement disorders, particularly in Sunflower Syndrome, and is leading the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium interest group on this condition. Relevant publications to this seminar include:

• Baumer FM, Porter BE. Clinical and electrographic features of sunflower syndrome. Epilepsy Res. 2018 May;142:58-63.
• Madani N, O’Malley JA, Porter BE, Baumer FM. Lacosamide-induced Dyskinesia in Children with Intractable Epilepsy. J Child Neurol. 2020 Sep;35(10):662-666.
• Beinvogl BC, Rosman NP, Baumer FM, Rodan LH, Forster CS, Kwon AH, Berry GT. A 10-Month-Old with Intermittent Hypotonia and Paralysis. Pediatrics. 2016 Jul;138(1):e20151896. *A case of alternating hemiplegia of childhood.